


The Planet's Enemy

by Ebonrune



Series: Children Of The Lifestream [2]
Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-19
Updated: 2012-07-26
Packaged: 2017-11-10 18:39:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 100,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/469429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ebonrune/pseuds/Ebonrune
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's been half a year since Omega was sent back to its rest and everyone has moved on with their lives. As Cloud and his friends soon discover however, the past refuses to remain buried.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Unfortunate Residents

Disclaimer: This story occurs post Dirge of Cerberus and makes references to it, as well as Crisis Core, the original Final Fantasy VII, Advent Children Complete, and Before Crisis--a game released on cellphones only in Japan. I of course, do not own Final Fantasy VII or any of the compilation. That pleasure belongs to Square-Enix. As well, I've chosen to use the fan names (according to the Final Fantasy wiki) for Cloud's various swords, since they don't have official names and 'Tsurugi' is Japanese for 'sword'. I've supplied a link in the notes as to which swords are named what from how I understand it--as the swords are not labeled which is which on the wiki.

\------------------------------------------------------------

Cloud's eyes opened slowly with a heavy groan. Ohh, his head was throbbing. Had he drank too much last night? As the world came into focus, he blinked several times and then slowly moved to sit up.

_This isn't Seventh Heaven...._

Looking around himself slowly, Cloud became even more disturbed as he realized that not only was this not Seventh Heaven, but that he wasn't even indoors. A huge expanse of flat land stretched out before him covered with a thick coating of snow, the only break was to his left, which were towering, mountainous walls.

Cloud looked up at the solid grey sky, a few of the snowflakes touching down on his cheeks, and wondered how long he'd been there. He certainly didn't feel cold, but given that he was enhanced that wasn't very telling. After a few moments of silent speculation, during which he climbed to his feet, he realized where he was.

"Why...am I at the Northern Crater?" He wondered aloud, his voice muffled by the white expanse surrounding him.

 _"Why do you think, Cloud?"_ A spectral voice answered him, low, amused and silky.

Cloud spun around, half-reaching for his sword, Merciless out of habit before he realized that of course the weapon wasn't there. "Who is that?! Show yourself!"

He heard a low chuckle that seemed to come from behind him, making him spin around once again and throwing up snow. _"Really, Cloud. Can you honestly say that you don't know?"_

Cloud's blood ran cold and he straightened up as the muscles in his back tensed, realizing now that he was hearing the voice inside his own head. "......Sephiroth."

_"Very good, Cloud. I told you. You're nothing but a puppet."_

"No!" Cloud grabbed his head and fell to his knees, shivering--not from cold, but stark fear. "I'm not your puppet, I'm not anyone's puppet! I'm--"

_"And yet here you are. I called, and you came."_

For that Cloud had no answer and Sephiroth chuckled softly, but then surprisingly his presence faded from Cloud's throbbing mind. He was still there though, _inside_ his head and Cloud knew it would only get worse. He sensed on an instinctive level that Sephiroth was weak right now, but he would get stronger and then.....

And then.....

Cloud looked up at the walls of the Northern Crater and shivered. He had the Planet's enemy in his head......and soon enough would _become_ the Planet's enemy himself. Would Sephiroth make his mocking words true and make Cloud his puppet? Or would he find a way to do as he had done with Kadaj and make himself live again, this time through Cloud?

_If that's true....there would be no one who could stop him......._

\------------------------------------------------------------

Tifa sighed softly to herself as she wiped down the bar counter for the fourth time. Cloud had been missing for over a month now and her concern had grown into real worry. She had done about all she could do herself, and now all she could do was wait.

She looked up when the chime above the door rang and was confronted with bright red eyes staring out of a pale face curtained by long, ebony black hair barely held at bay by a red bandana. She forced a smile for the intimidating figure and then turned away to arrange the dishes behind her.

"I almost didn't think you were going to come." She said lightly.

"I said I would, did I not?" Vincent responded, stepping over to seat himself at the bar. "Though I find myself having to question why you asked me to come here first."

Tifa made a face Vincent couldn't see and mentally told her stomach to stop knotting up. Vincent shouldn't affect her this way. Red XIII was far more intimidating, but only Vincent could make her feel like a rabbit shadowed by a hungry hawk, especially with them alone like this. "You're like a ghost, Vincent." She told him, letting none of the nervousness she felt creep into her voice. "I wanted to make sure you were doing alright."

"I have always answered my phone when you have called."

"That's not the same thing." Tifa forced herself to turn around and look at him, only to find she couldn't meet his eyes. She was however, a stubborn woman and she forced herself to. Sephiroth had been far more terrifying, but she'd found it easier to face him than one of her own friends who didn't even deserve it! Still, she found it a relief when he responded to her challenge by dropping his own gaze. "I haven't brought you out of your way, have I?"

"No." Vincent said in a mild tone that made Tifa want to swear. He began to idly trace a nonsense pattern on the metal countertop with his right hand while he quietly slipped his gauntlet off the bar to rest on his lap instead. "As I had told you, I was....visiting old memories."

Somehow, seeing Vincent do something so..... _human_ as to trace a pattern on the bar relieved some of Tifa's tension and allowed for some curiosity. "Old memories?" She gently prompted. Vincent talking about his past--or anything about himself really--was like finding a nugget of gold in a river. Vincent was silent for so long however that she began to worry that the moment had already passed. She began to grow uncomfortable before he finally spoke.

"Junon, and my old home therein." He said almost too softly for her to make out his words. "I found myself somewhat surprised that it was still mostly intact, especially after the damage that the WEAPON and Meteor had caused. I was also surprised that no one had since occupied the home. I would have thought it would have been cleared out long before."

"Cleared out?"

"By Shinra, or vandals....." Vincent exhaled softly. "It doesn't matter. It was.....nice to see my old home again. Kinder memories that won't haunt my dreams."

As long as Vincent kept his eyes down, Tifa could think of him as the tortured man that he was rather than being confronted by the monsters that lived within him. Bolstered by this she dared to move forward and place her hand gently over his, stopping its idle tracing. He jerked in surprise and looked up at her, and she forced herself not to flinch.

"You still have nightmares?" She asked him gently, showing him only concern and kindness in her expression rather than the animalistic fear his monsters invoked in her--or at least, so she hoped.

She must not have been entirely successful however, because he looked away from her and pulled his hand out from under hers. "I'll begin looking for Cloud." He told her in a brusque tone, moving to stand.

Frustrated by what she felt was irrational fear, Tifa's hand shot out to grab his arm. ".....I'm sorry, Vincent." She told him sincerely and with some heat, though her anger was self-directed. "It's not your fault....and I shouldn't react this way."

Vincent looked back at her and she glared back in defiance. After a few seconds of the staring contest, Vincent tugged himself free of her and glided back out of reach.

"Don't force yourself for my sake, Tifa." He said softly, this time not breaking his gaze from hers. "I know what I am, and you are right to be afraid."

" _You_ , Vincent Valentine, are a human being." Tifa responded with annoyance that was now definitely directed at him. "What you _have_ are some unfortunate residents, and that's not _you_ , that's _them_."

Vincent closed his eyes and bowed his head slightly. His lips quirked up in a slight smile, but it was a cold expression. "I won't bother arguing semantics with you Tifa, but you're wrong. I am they and they are me. Only Chaos is the 'unfortunate resident', and I suspect it may be it that you see when you look at my eyes." He turned away with a flourish of his cloak. "Now please excuse me, I have our friend to track down."

He was out the door before Tifa could find a way to call him back and after a few moments, she sagged against the back counter and put a hand to her face.

"I didn't even get to compliment him on his nice new boots." She muttered to herself in a bitter, self-loathing tone. _I bet the others don't react like this to him, Yuffie definitely doesn't with her jumping him every chance she gets....._

\------------------------------------------------------------

"Shera! Goddamnit woman, quit your fussing!"

"I'll fuss if I want." Shera responded calmly to her husband, continuing to lean over the crib and arrange the toys within to her liking. "And please stop yelling, Cid. You'll wake Kyle."

Cid huffed and puffed indignantly for several moments, but he didn't say anything more until Shera finished her task and straightened up again.

"You shouldn't be fussing about like a goddamn hen!" Cid groused at her, though at a more tolerable level. "You wanna be popping out the baby early?!"

"Oh, that would almost be a blessed relief." Shera rubbed her swollen belly, smiling down at it in motherly benevolence as if she could see the fetus within. "Considering Kyle was nearly a month late, it would be nice if this one would come early."

"Haw." Cid stepped over to put a hand lightly to his wife's stomach, only to be rewarded for it with a strong kick. "Little shit." He told her belly fondly before looking into his wife's face. "Well, one brat's sleeping and the other's wide awake. Maybe if you'd rest a little goddamn more, so would the kid."

To that, Shera gave an exasperated sigh. "If only I could get any." She lamented. "This little one keeps me running to the bathroom every five minutes, it seems. Not to mention kicking me at the most unfortunate times."

"Well, our little three year old is sleeping, so go on and try for some rest right now." Cid made shooing motions toward the door.

Shera laughed softly and gave a fond smile to her husband. "Shouldn't you be looking for Cloud rather than fussing about here worrying for me? I've done this before after all, and the baby isn't due for another few weeks."

"I'll fuss if I want." He threw her words back at her. "Besides, the kid can take care of himself. Tifa's getting in a tizzy over nothing. It's not like this is the first goddamn time he's gone missing and left his phone off."

"Alright then." Shera said, though there was a note of doubt in her voice. Though she didn't know most of Cid's friends well, Tifa hadn't struck her as the kind of person to get worked up over something without a good reason. Still, Cid knew better than she did in this matter, so she let it go and waddled off on swollen feet to the bedroom to try and catch some rest before one child or the other demanded something.

Cid watched his wife leave the baby room and sighed softly to himself. The truth of the matter was he _was_ a bit worried for Cloud, but he felt Shera needed him at home more. Nothing was threatening the Planet at the moment, so he was gonna stay tight at home with his family unless or until he was forced to take some kind of action. He looked up toward the ceiling and hooked his thumbs in his belt loops.

_Hope you're doing okay, kiddo. My wife needs me here, but I'm sure one of the others'll find your spiky ass._

\------------------------------------------------------------

Cloud sighed softly as he stared off at the mako lake that had long ago swallowed Mideel. He hoped that the residents had moved out before the town had been completely engulfed, but somehow he doubted it. Normally he wouldn't even have come near the scene, but Sephiroth's presence seemed less oppressive here for some reason and it gave him at least the illusion of control.

He had been camped at the shore of the lake for almost two weeks, but he knew he couldn't stay much longer. Even though Sephiroth didn't haunt his mind as he'd been doing until Cloud had arrived at Mideel, Cloud was succumbing to a different kind of effect. Though the water diluted the smell of the mako, it was still there and Cloud had found he had been getting sluggish of thought and action. It seemed that even though he had been keeping well back from the shore, it was still close enough to affect him and if he had a relapse into mako poisoning, what then? Monsters roamed through the area, many likely created by having drank from the mako lake in their search for water. He'd already had to drive several away from him over the past two days, but if he got much slower one could well kill him before he even knew it was there.

 _At least Sephiroth wouldn't be able to use me then._ He thought morosely. Suicide had crossed his mind early on, but he had dismissed it almost immediately. Perhaps it was pride, but he had fought too damn hard for the Planet and his life to give up now. Somewhere there was a solution and he would find it.

With a heavy sigh, Cloud heaved himself to his feet from where he'd been sitting against his motorcycle, Fenrir and moved to circle the lake. He'd found a Bio the first time he'd done this--which had been out of sheer boredom--and a Regen the second time--which had been purposeful searching. This would be the last time he would take the hour walk around the mako lake, he promised himself. Then he would leave and find a new sanctuary to puzzle out a solution to his problem.

He had walked for nearly the full hour when he spotted something strange by the shore. He eyed it as he approached, for it didn't look like a materia. He edged towards it carefully--the shore was unstable in parts and he had no intention of falling in--and finally was able to pick it up. Retreating from the edge, he then took the time to examine his find.

Turning it over in his hands a few times, Cloud puzzled at it. It was a grayish white and looked like a miniature building, with construction that reminded him of the pagoda in Wutai, but also had elements similar to the way they built in Gongaga. It even had a tiny little door.

 _Must be a shrine of some sort._ Cloud mused and moved to continue his walk, holding the relic in his hand. He didn't find any materia, but as he came back around to approach Fenrir he abruptly realized something. The fog that had come to blanket his mind had cleared. This revelation was enough to startle the blond into stopping mid-step and after a moment to process the clarity, he brought the shrine up to look at it. It didn't seem to be any different from the last time he had looked at it, but somehow he knew that it and his mind clearing were connected.

"Huh..." Cloud continued on his trek to his bike and packed his newest acquisition away in a saddlebag, then he climbed astride and pulled his driving goggles over his eyes before he turned on the powerful engine and peeled out, leaving the mako lake behind.

\------------------------------------------------------------

Navigating World Regenesis Headquarters, Vincent found himself growing increasingly annoyed. Everyone he came across--especially if he took them by surprise--would jump and make some noise or other, followed by a stammered 'M-Mr. Valentine!' before hurriedly backing out of his way. He'd opted to take the stairs up to Reeve's office floor as a result of the first of these reactions, and by the time he reached the desk of Reeve's secretary he was just about ready to shoot someone.

"Excuse me." He said politely to the woman sitting at the desk. "Is Reeve available?"

The secretary looked up at Vincent and her eyes widened before she hurriedly ducked her head and reached with a shaking hand for her phone. "I'll just.....check for you, Mr. Valentine." She told him in a soft voice.

"......Thank you." Vincent turned away and stared intently at a painting on the wall depicting a forest. Tifa's behavior towards him he had taken as a matter of course, but _everyone_ being jumpy? No, that was unusual. That meant something was wrong, something with him. He lifted his gauntlet hand and looked at it. _I don't feel any different._ True, he was a bit annoyed at everyone jumping as if he was a feral animal set loose, but that was really all.

"Um....Mr. Valentine? Mr. Tuesti will see you now....."

"Thank you." Vincent turned away from the painting and swept on to Reeve's office. He normally wouldn't have been so abrupt to the woman, but his temper had grown rather frayed. He only hoped Reeve didn't react as strongly as everyone else he'd come across that day had or he'd have to leave town in a hurry and go Galian on some monsters to work off his aggression.

"Hello Vincent!" Cait Sith waved to him cheerfully from where he was perched on Reeve's desk beside several small bobblehead versions of him. "Yae're quite the sight for sore eyes!" The robot tilted his head. "Yae've got a scary look on yaer face there. Did something happen?"

Vincent merely arched a brow at Cait and looked beyond him to Reeve himself. "Well," He commented to Reeve, who was quite readily making eye contact with him and didn't seem to be worried for his health as everyone else he'd dealt with that day had seemed to be. "this is the most cheerful greeting I've had in a while."

Reeve chuckled softly. "Well, you know how Cait is." He responded with a shrug before becoming serious. "He's right though, Vincent. You _do_ look to be in a rather bad humor. I'm almost afraid to ask what news you've brought with you."

"It isn't the news I have brought, but the way everyone I've come across has been reacting to me." Vincent moved to sit on one of the chairs in the room, hoping that sitting on something would make him at least _appear_ to be a little more harmless. "You and Cait have actually reacted the least severely....though I wouldn't expect the talking stuffed toy to be afraid of anything."

"Ae'm nawt afraid of yae, that's for sure!" Cait retorted while Reeve chuckled softly in amusement. "Oooh!" He shadowboxed in movements similar to Yuffie. "Ae'll knock yae flat, yae jackaroe!"

"Hm....is it just me, or does his accent get worse when he's riled?" Vincent commented dryly.

Reeve chuckled again. "Oh, it definitely gets worse." He shook his head. "So, what brings you here today, Vincent?"

"......Tifa." Vincent shifted against the chair's plush back. "She called me earlier to ask me to look for Cloud.....though she asked me to go to Seventh Heaven first." He shook his head slightly. "You obviously have better resources at your disposal, so I thought it couldn't hurt to come to you."

"Hmm." Reeve steepled his fingers and shared a glance with his creation when Cait looked back at him. "Tifa also called me for the same reason. She isn't prone to be excitable, so I've chosen to humor her concern.....however, it seems that she is more worried than she originally made it appear. She also called Rufus and asked for _his_ help."

Both of Vincent's eyebrows rose to vanish under his bandana. "Rufus?" He echoed, and then frowned. "Why would she ask him for help.....?"

"I've been wondering the same thing." Reeve sat back in his chair. "The only thing that comes to mind has to do with when Tifa and Cloud fell into the Lifestream at Mideel. It's possible that the experience left some kind of connection between them, and she senses that he is in danger."

"Mm.....I suppose." Vincent tilted his head slightly. "So then, what came of her harassing Rufus?"

"The Turks is what came of it. Rufus called me about the call he had received from Tifa and once he had confirmed that I too had gotten a similar call, he all but forced his Turks upon my poor WRO." Reeve sighed softly, but then he focused fully on Vincent. "Actually Vincent, I'm glad you're here. I want someone to accompany the Turks when they set out to look for Cloud, and I would greatly appreciate if you would be that someone."

"......Because I am a former Turk, or is there some other reason?" Vincent's tone was very carefully neutral.

"Because they know how tae turn _mae_ off." Cait spoke up. "And nae one else knows how the Turks operate." He pointed at Vincent. "Yae'd be just about perfect. Yae know how they work, and yae're nae fool tae be intimidated by them either."

".......Just about what he said." Reeve added on, arching a brow at Cait, who ignored him. "But beyond that Vincent, you're someone I know I can trust. Rufus must have his own agenda here, and maybe you can find out what it is."

Vincent sighed heavily. "........Very well." He said with some reluctance. "Though quite honestly Reeve, I can't promise much. Tseng and Rude are tolerable, but Elena and Reno rub me the wrong way."

"Just try not to eat anyone." Reeve responded dryly, only to quickly shoot his hands up when Vincent gave him a dark look. "Only kidding, Vincent. But really, you _do_ look rather intimidating today. In fact, I haven't seen you this bad since you had the Protomateria stolen."

"The Protomateria......." Vincent brought up his right hand to place on his chest over where it rested. He barely gave it a thought most days, but brought to his attention now he could feel its pulse out of tune with the beating of his heart and behind that....... _Chaos is restless._ He frowned deeply. This was not good. It had been about six months since he had defeated Omega and since that time, he had done all he could to dredge up any and all information on the proto-WEAPON--or rather, had asked Shelke to do so as she had access to far more information than he could easily get a hold of on his own. Some of the things he had learned had been disturbing, but it had also helped him to understand and therefore control Chaos. That the monster was becoming so active now......

"Mr. Tuesti?" Reeve's secretary's voice crackled through the com abruptly.

Reeve immediately depressed a button on the receiver. "Yes, Katarine?"

"Tseng of the Turks is here and requesting to speak with you."

"Ah...." Reeve glanced at Vincent, who sighed softly and shrugged. "Yes, let him in." Reeve released the button and sat back again.

A few moments later, Reeve's office door opened and Tseng entered. He paused briefly when he noticed Vincent, but then turned his attention to Reeve. "I was going to ask if you had decided on someone to accompany us, but I see there may be no need."

"That is correct." Reeve replied with a nod. "Vincent will be going with you. If you have no complaints, of course."

"Complaining would avail me nothing." Tseng said seriously, folding his arms behind his back. "The President directed us to treat your orders--with some exceptions--as if they were coming from him himself."

"Hm. I see." Reeve glanced at Vincent. "Well then, I hope this arrangement works out. I wouldn't want to hinder your work, but you do understand the precautions I must take to protect my own interests."

"Of course." Tseng looked at Vincent then and arched a brow. Though Vincent was not exactly fond of any of the Turks, he found himself glad that Tseng didn't act as if there was anything at all strange about him. After a few moments in which the two men stared at one another, Tseng looked back at Reeve again.

"We'll take our leave then." At Reeve's nod of assent, he turned to go. He gave a glance to Vincent and then opened the door to leave again. Vincent exhaled softly and stood to follow. This was starting to grate on him already.

Tseng was quiet as he led the taller man to the elevator and remained so until the car arrived to take them to the roof, it seemed. Only once the doors had closed and the elevator began its ascent did Tseng choose to break the silence.

"There may be certain situations that we come across in which I will require your immediate and unquestioning obedience." He began, looking at Vincent from the corner of his eyes. "Though we are allies at this time, you must understand that the safety of those under my command comes first and foremost. Compromise the safety of my team, and I will take the appropriate steps to deal with it."

Vincent arched a brow. "You are preaching to the choir, Tseng. Though I am no longer a Turk, I still believe I understand the rules that need to be followed......for the most part." He tilted his head slightly and seemed about to say more, but the elevator reached its destination then and Tseng swept out as soon as the doors opened, leaving Vincent to follow in his wake towards the waiting Shinra helicopter.

"Aw, hell no!" Reno groaned as soon as he spotted them--or more specifically, Vincent. "Director, you can't be serious!"

"Is there a problem, Reno?" Tseng asked, his tone cold enough to chill the air around him.

".............No, sir." Reno responded grudgingly. He sighed heavily and then rapped on the side of the helicopter--which he had been leaning against. "Hup to, team! Time to meet the babysitter!"

 _Babysitter?_ Vincent thought with annoyance that he didn't allow to show on his face. If that's what they considered him to be, then things were going to be even more chafing than he had first thought.

Rude emerged from the copter first, his eyes hidden behind dark sunglasses as always, but the woman who followed him out made Vincent arch a brow. She looked like Elena, but.....

Tseng evidently noticed his confusion. "Vincent, this is Thessa. She's Elena's older sister and will be working with us on this assignment."

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance." Thessa had a more pleasing voice than Elena did, Vincent noted. He nodded back to her, silently pleased again that none of the Turks seemed to be reacting in the least to Chaos' unusual activity--though with Rude's sunglasses, it was harder to tell with him.

"Where is Elena?" Vincent asked, looking at Tseng and arching a brow. While he wasn't fond of the young woman, it seemed more than a little strange to him that an older sibling of hers had spontaneously materialized.

"Elena is taking a paid leave to take care of certain issues." Tseng responded smoothly. When Vincent's expression turned dubious, he frowned and then sighed softly.

"You're wondering why you've never seen Thessa before, I suppose?" He queried. At a slight nod from Vincent, he sighed softly again and motioned for the Turks to board the copter. Once they had done so, Tseng turned fully to Vincent and tucked his arms behind his back.

"She has been in hiding for several years thanks to her part in aiding our former leader Veld recover the four support materia to save his daughter's life." He informed Vincent in a simple and no-nonsense way. "Is that enough to satisfy you, Vincent?"

"......." Vincent crossed his arms. "If she has been in hiding, then why is she back now?"

"The President sent out a formal pardon to all Turks who had participated in the defection and gone into hiding." Tseng glanced over at the helicopter, then looked back at Vincent. "Thanks to Elena, we were able to locate Thessa.....but the others are still unaccounted for. I am sure they are alive however, and they either have not received the news or they do not believe the truth of it."

"I wouldn't blame them." Vincent responded and moved to board the craft without another word. After a moment, Tseng followed him and took a seat to buckle himself into. Reno and Rude were already in the cockpit and Thessa had already strapped herself in.

"Our first objective is Icicle Inn." Tseng informed Vincent while Vincent was taking the time to shut the copter door. "Cloud was apparently sighted in the area, and though the information is sadly quite old, it is as good a place to begin our search as any."

"Mm." Vincent nodded slightly and took a seat himself as the engines came to life and he mentally prepared himself for the long flight, for it was likely to be extremely boring and headache-inducing.

\------------------------------------------------------------

At around the time that the Turks arrived at their destination, Cloud arrived at his. Staring up at the Shinra manor from astride his motorcycle with the late evening sun setting behind the mountains, he sighed heavily and rubbed his head.

"How did I end up here?" He muttered, though he had a sneaking suspicion he knew. With another heavy sigh, he shut off Fenrir and dropped his riding goggles around his neck. "Are you going to burn it all to the ground again, Sephiroth?" He asked with a weary tone, looking back at his rebuilt hometown.

After several moments during which he didn't receive an answer, he turned to his saddlebags to dig out some provisions and his sleeping bag as well as the relic. He didn't really know why, but he wanted to keep it close to him and he turned to head into the mansion. If Nibelheim was still standing by the morning, perhaps he'd even do some shopping to restock his supply.

The floor was filthy and had grass growing out of it from where the roof had collapsed. Rusted machine parts lay broken under the stairs and the stairs themselves creaked ominously and threatened to give out under Cloud's carefully placed feet. The second floor didn't offer much more stability and Cloud began to reason that unless he wanted to stay in the inn, he was probably safer either on the main floor....or in the basement. He had already discarded the inn. There were too many memories already and with Sephiroth in his head the whole situation seemed like history ready to repeat itself. The first floor was disgusting and though he hadn't checked the other rooms, he guessed they were probably just as bad, especially with the front doors having been rotted away to let in the elements as well as the roof. That left the basement.

Creeping warily along the creaking boards, Cloud made his way toward the basement entrance, muttering to himself about the idiot who'd designed the way to the basement on the second floor. Upon reaching the basement entrance, he then had to creep down with his back against the wall, distrusting the wooden boards that led the way down. Just when he was starting to think it was becoming more effort than it was worth however, he reached the basement.

Now on solid ground, Cloud headed determinedly toward his destination and soon was setting his things down.....in the room where he had first met Vincent. It was small, it was clean and considering his current state of mind, it seemed suiting to spend the night there. Unrolling his sleeping bag, he sat down on it and set about putting out dinner for himself.

While he ate, he thought about the last few hours. He'd found the relic and the mako-induced fog had lifted, only for another fog to take its place. He hadn't lost time precisely--not like he had when he'd woken up in the shadow of the Northern Crater with no recollection of having traveled there--but it had been hazy and....directed. It was almost as if he had been guided to his hometown, and he knew not why.

His food abruptly tasted like ashes in his mouth. He packed it away and picked up the relic almost unconsciously, then he stood up and paced out of the coffin room. Feeling pensive, he circled the basement and finally dared to enter Hojo's old lab. It had fallen to ruin, of course. The specimen tubes were broken and rusted, the experiment table and its immediate surroundings had broken glass and to Cloud's surprise, bullet casings. Crouching to examine them, he picked one up and turned it over.

 _Oh, that's right._ He suddenly remembered. _Vincent had encountered Deepground here, these must be from his gun....or possibly theirs._

He stood up again, letting the casing fall back to the floor. He didn't know why Vincent would have ventured into the basement, nor why he would have entered this room in particular, but now he was curious about what other evidence he would find regarding Deepground's presence in Nibelheim half a year ago. Still carrying the relic without seeming to be fully aware of doing so, Cloud moved on into the library. Here he found more signs of battle and several of the books had bullet holes in them. One of the bookcases had even been toppled over.

".....Jenova isn't your mother, you know." Cloud said suddenly, recalling the memory that wasn't his of being in this room while Sephiroth read out what he had found on Jenova. Why did the Zack memories still seem so vivid anyway? "That was a woman named Lucrecia."

"Lately I dream of Sephiroth....my dear, dear child."

Cloud blinked, suddenly finding himself trapped in the memory of standing with Vincent and the others within the Crystal Cave listening to Lucrecia. There again was the brunette woman with her face in her hands, mourning for the child she birthed.

"Ever since he was born I never got to hold him, even once...."

 _Is he.....rifling through my memories?!_ Cloud felt himself go cold, even as he remained trapped in reliving the memory as if it was happening again before his eyes. If Sephiroth could touch his memories, then he could likely alter them too.....

"Not even once! You can't call me his mother....that.....is my sin...."

And then the memory faded from behind Cloud's eyes. He shook his head out violently and growled in irritation. _"You see!"_ He thought angrily at Sephiroth. _"She gave birth to you, not some alien stuck in a tube!"_

 _"And yet by her own admission, she cannot be called my mother."_ Sephiroth replied with his usual silky calm. _"Not once did she ever speak to me, give me guidance or behave in any manner the way I imagine a parent should."_

 _"Oh, and because Jenova told you to destroy the world that makes her a better mother?"_ Cloud's mental response was caustic. _"You really_ are _insane if you call that good parenting."_

Sephiroth laughed. _"If I am insane, then why are you addressing me as though you assume me to be rational?"_ He laughed again. _"Poor deluded Cloud. You don't even know what you're fighting for."_

"At the moment," Cloud hissed aloud. "I'm fighting _against_ you." He moved to leave the library and re-enter Hojo's former lab.

 _"But this is a battle you will lose, and you know it."_ Cloud's fist clenched, the other hand tightening around the relic he still did not seem to be fully aware he was carrying. _"Nothing but a puppet. A poor broken doll, still pretending he exists."_

"Funny." Cloud was back to arguing aloud. "For 'not existing' I did a pretty good job of taking you out--what was it.....three times?"

He shortly discovered another way Sephiroth could affect him when pain shot through his skull with such intensity he collapsed, gasping like the breath had been knocked out of him. He whimpered, his head feeling like it was on fire. Frantic with the primal need to escape the agony, Cloud somehow staggered blindly to his feet. He jerked about, unable to see for the agony but trying to get out of the room as if that would somehow end the pain. He missed his mark however and slammed hard against a wall, only for it to give out under him and he fell hard on his side into heavy dust. Somehow, needing to cough eased the pain somewhat and he was able to push himself up again, hacking and wheezing. Still unable to see very well, blood vessels having burst in his eyes, Cloud staggered back to his feet and squinted into the gloom ahead of himself. The pain was slowly receding further and Cloud sincerely hoped Sephiroth couldn't inflict pain on him too often, as Cloud had no doubt that Sephiroth would choose a potentially fatal time to inflict the agony on him next.

Slowly, step by step Cloud inched forward. His vision was thankfully recovering quickly--a happy side effect of being essentially a SOLDIER--and he saw a small light ahead that when he reached it turned out to be a keypad of sorts.

 _A secret room?_ Cloud tilted his head slightly, though his stomach turned over sickly. A hidden room attached to Hojo's lab probably meant horrors were on the other side. Still, maybe there would be something worth discovering inside and Cloud stared at the keypad before punching in some random numbers. The light above the keypad flashed red of course, but Cloud leaned down slightly and peered more closely before he lightly brushed the dust off and looked again. Four numbers were slightly more worn than the rest, so that was the code. The key was figuring out the order.

It took seven tries, but finally the light flashed green and there was a click when the door unlocked. Warily, Cloud lifted his hand to open the door--pausing briefly when he finally noticed what he had been carrying all that time--before pushing on into the room. _How long have I been carrying this?_ He wondered before looking up at his find.

He found himself in a room that was surprisingly lit, though dimly. Immediately in front of him was a double row of specimen tubes. The nearest ones were empty, but ones further back in the room seemed to be filled with a thick green liquid--stagnant mako. As Cloud inched in through the ankle-high dust to investigate, he found to his horror that the tubes with the mako in fact had more than mako.

Cloud backed up quickly into the tube behind himself, staring in silent terror at what was within the tube he was facing....himself.

"H-How...." He whispered, starting to tremble. If he was inside of that tube, then was he _really_ Cloud Strife or had what Sephiroth had taunted him with been true? Was he really just a clone with false memories?

"M-My memories are real...." He whimpered softly to himself, still staring. "Tifa c-conf-firmed them......I'm real....." But was he really? Maybe the memories were true, but which one was the _real_ Cloud?

So caught up was he in his terror that he didn't notice that the relic had begun to glow until it became too hot for him to hold it and he dropped it in surprise. Finally, he tore his eyes away from the doppleganger to stare at the relic, which had landed upright on the floor and was still glowing with a bright white light that was almost too painful to look at.

_What....?_

A thud rattled the tube behind him and he jumped and spun around, pupils dilating sharply as something even more frightening presented itself. The body facing across from Cloud's doppleganger had come to life and was trying to break its way free.

".....Z-Zack....."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cloud's [swords](http://i48.tinypic.com/dlkl51.jpg).
> 
> Crossposted to [DeviantArt](http://naosuloff.deviantart.com/gallery/34469925) and [FF.net](http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5454968/1/The_Planets_Enemy).


	2. Reunions

Cloud stared in horror at the clone body of his best friend as it tried to break its way free. However, though the glass was starting to develop slight cracks, Cloud noticed that blood had begun to float out among the mako.

 _He's hurting himself....._ Cloud squeezed his eyes shut for several moments. He was certain that the Zack who'd carried him almost all the way to Midgar had been the real Zack, even if he wasn't sure he was the real Cloud....but..... _Damnit!_

"That's enough, stop!" Cloud yelled to make sure he'd be heard. "I'll get you out of there!" He looked along the side of the tube for a release switch and soon found it. He pressed it, and then jabbed at it hard several times when nothing happened. Finally there was a hiss and the stagnant mako began to drain. He heard Zack begin to hack and wheeze as soon as he had his head out of the liquid. Cloud knew that you could breathe fresh mako, but stagnant.....probably not, which meant the clone had been drowning. Within a minute, the mako had completely drained and the tube creaked open halfway on rusted gears before the glass froze in its tracks unable to move further. It was wide enough for Zack to slip out however, and this he did, still hacking and gasping for breath. It was at this point that Cloud realized there was another problem.

 _Oh geez...._ Cloud half-covered his eyes, for Zack was stark naked, a fact he'd overlooked in his shock. "......You okay?" He asked after a few moments when Zack's coughing had subsided a bit.

"Soon as.....I get a hang......of this breathing bit......" Zack responded, rasping every few words and still half-doubled over. Fixating on the upper half of the clone's body through his fingers, Cloud noted differences between the Zack he remembered and this clone. He saw no scar on the left cheek and his dark hair was much longer and shaggier than Zack had worn his own hair. Somehow however, he seemed to have the same amount of muscle development--though Cloud had never seen his friend in a state of undress so he couldn't be completely certain except that the clone definitely had muscles.

"I'll....ah.....I'll go buy some clothes for you down in Nibelheim." Cloud told the clone of his friend. "Um.....what's your shoe size?"

"Twelve and a half....or thirteen...." The clone gave a final phlemy cough and straightened up a bit to look at Cloud with bright mako enhanced blue eyes. "Cloud...."

"Okay, gotcha. I'll see what I can do. Just...um.....don't go anywhere." Cloud turned on his heel and left the specimen room, trying to keep from running. First Sephiroth in his head and now dead clones coming to life....this wasn't a good month at all.

It took him about an hour to return. Part of the delay was caused by the spinning of his thoughts--thoughts he was very glad Sephiroth wasn't commenting on--and the rest was caused by trying to buy clothing for a 6'3" individual when no one in Nibelheim was over 5'10". When he returned, he found the clone had chosen to migrate out of the extremely dusty room and had instead parked himself in the library doorway of Hojo's former lab. He'd placed an open book over his privates--something that nearly made Cloud start laughing--and was holding the relic in his hand. He looked up when Cloud entered with the clothing, though he didn't move to stand. "Hey man, welcome back. You took a while."

"No one in town is as tall as you are." Cloud explained. He set the clothing down by Zack and then retreated and turned his back. "I hope everything fits alright."

Zack didn't answer, though from the grunting and muted swearing that soon started emanating from behind Cloud, things weren't going well.

"Well," The clone said after about a minute. "Good guessing on the part on everything below the hips....not so sure about this shirt though."

Cloud turned around, and found he had to stifle a laugh. The pants were at least three inches too short in the leg, though at least Cloud had gotten Zack's waist size correct. The shirt however had practically molded itself to Zack's skin. It was the uncomfortable look on Zack's face that finally did the blond in however and he covered his mouth as his shoulders began to shake.

"No one in Nibelheim is as built as you either." He half-snickered. "I'll take you to the Gold Saucer in the morning. They should have clothes that would fit you." A clone this Zack may be, but he seemed to be acting like Zack so far and Cloud was deciding that was good enough for him.

"Oh cool. I've always wanted to go there." Zack swayed a bit, wiggling his feet in his new shoes. "So, Cloud.....no need to worry about that legacy thing now, hey? I can live my own life again!"

Cloud froze and stared. _Legacy? But....but he....._ "How.....legacy.....?" Cloud frantically went over that hazy time, Zack's last moments. If there had been anyone around, Cloud would've been shot. But then how did the clone know that Cloud was Zack's living legacy?

Zack planted his hands on his hips and gave Cloud a funny look. "Um, Cloud? Yeah, hi? It's me, Zack. I know I need a haircut, but seriously now."

Cloud put a hand to his head as it began to throb. "You're a clone...." He muttered. "How could you know what happened then....?"

".....Ohhh. Now I get it." Zack nodded, though Cloud was looking down and didn't see. "Well, that's easy! You can't clone a soul!"

"Can't clone.....a soul......"

"Yeah, that's right!" Zack put his hands on Cloud's shoulders and shook him gently. "Guess you saw that clone of you in there, huh? Don't worry about it, the real thing's way cuter."

Cloud jerked and made a choked sound, then his head snapped up to stare at Zack as his face turned into a tomato. "Z-Zack!!!"

The taller man snickered and moved his hands. "Got your attention now, didn't I buddy?" He ruffled Cloud's hair affectionately, making him squawk. "No worries, Cloud. You're you and I'm me, 'cause you can't clone a soul!"

Cloud stepped back until he found a wall that hopefully wasn't going to swing open on him and sagged against it, bringing his hand back up to his head. "How.....did this happen, Zack? Dead bodies don't just.....come to life, and that mako was stagnant....." He wrinkled his nose. "In fact, you still smell of it."

"Yeah, I noticed that part." Zack looked up toward the ceiling. "Too bad the pipes in this place are probably all rusted or I'd try to take a shower." He shrugged slightly and looked back at Cloud. "As for how I'm here, weeell....I figure this thing has something to do with it." He picked up the relic from where he'd placed it on the lab table and waved it at Cloud.

Cloud glanced up, then covered his face again with a soft groan. "Never mind. It's too late in the day to be thinking this hard. We'll just head to the Saucer in the morning and figure things out from there....." _Like how to tell you I have Sephiroth in my head...._ He straightened up to leave the room, and after a moment Zack followed, carrying the relic with him.

\------------------------------------------------------------

"I'm so sorry....."

Vincent looked up from his sitting position to gaze upon the woman speaking to him and he let out a soft exhalation.

"You have nothing to be sorry for, Lucrecia." He told her, his voice gentle and soft. "I'm alive thanks to you."

A choked sob was his answer. "I'm so sorry....."

Vincent sighed softly again, wishing he could get through to her. Wishing he could find the perfect words to say to take her pain away.

"Brrrrt! Brrrrt!"

Vincent snapped awake as his phone continued its vibrating dance on the bedside table. Fumbling for it, he flipped it open and answered without looking at the call display. "Hello....?" He said, still a touch sleep groggy.

"Vincent?" It was Yuffie, and Vincent felt a flash of irritation. He'd told her before not to call him, and it was still night according to the lack of light peeking in through the blinds of the room. Did she think that his thirty years in that coffin meant he didn't sleep the rest of the time?! However, he then acknowledged her tone, which was weary and maybe also a touch spooked.

Vincent sat up, pushing his hair back from his face, as he'd taken his bandana off to sleep. "What is it, Yuffie?" He asked.

"Well......I was in the area by the Crystal Cave, so I thought I'd pop in and give her some company, let her know how you've been--not that I've seen you lately!" Vincent sighed, but Yuffie just kept talking. "But Vincent! When I got there, something was wrong! The big crystal's all broken up and she's not there!"

Vincent stiffened. "........How long ago was this? When did you get there?"

".......About two hours ago, but I couldn't get any service there! I had to walk halfway to Nibelheim to call you!"

Vincent was already out of bed and gathering together his few items. "It will probably take about that long for me to get there." He told her. "Head back to the cave if you can and I'll meet you there, otherwise just continue to Nibelheim and I'll find you." He didn't give Yuffie a chance to answer and hung up. Finishing his preparations, Vincent put his bandana on and left his room at the inn. He headed next door to Tseng's room and knocked firmly on the door, then waited impatiently for the Turk leader to answer.

"Something has come up and I need to leave." Vincent told Tseng briskly. "I'll catch up to you all later if I can."

Tseng nodded slightly. "Alright, Vincent. Do what you need to." Vincent could tell he was relieved at no longer needing to worry about an outsider, but he was in too much of a hurry to care. Turning on his heel he left the inn and stepped out behind it, and then he let Chaos out.

The proto-WEAPON flexed its wings and then took off into the sky. Chaos could move quickly when it wished to, and it put its speed to good use now. Both it and Vincent were in accord, though for different reasons. Both of them wanted to reach the Crystal Cave, and so Chaos jetted through the sky towards its objective.

\---------------------

Yuffie had chosen not to return to the Crystal Cave. It was creepy and damp there and she was closer to Nibelheim by the time she'd gotten a hold of Vincent anyway. In spite of having walked such a long distance, the young ninja was still quite energetic and decided to head up into Mt. Nibel to hunt through the caves there and fight the monsters. When she got there however, she found that someone or some _thing_ else had already decimated the local monster population.

Generally wary by nature and going by the assumption that it was probably just a bigger monster, the young woman snuck up the mountain with her shuriken held in a ready position to be thrown at a moment's notice. Instead of finding a mysterious monster however, Yuffie found herself coming across a tall man with long spiky black hair and oddly fitting clothes dispatching a Bomb with.....

 _Hey! That's Cloud's sword!_ Yuffie thought with surprise and anger. _Bet this guy knows where he is! No one's allowed to steal from my friends but me!_ Sneaking up behind the taller man, she waited until he was done fighting the monster before she pointed her shuriken at his neck so the edge pricked him, causing him to tense.

"Okay, buddy!" Yuffie said, making her voice gruff in an effort to sound older--for even though she'd recently celebrated her 20'th year, she still sounded rather young. "Tell me where Cloud is and maybe I'll let ya live!"

The man slowly lifted one arm in the air--the other holding Cloud's sword--and attempted to look behind himself at her, but she gave him a jab in the back with a kunai in her other hand to discourage it. Anyone who could wield Cloud's weapon with one hand was probably more than she could handle on her own.

"Who're you, asking after Cloud?" The man said at last. Yuffie tilted her head slightly. He sounded somehow familiar....

"I'm Yuffie Kisaragi, Wutai's greatest warrior!" Yuffie responded and poked him in the back with the kunai again. "Now cough up the info or you're in for a world of hurting!"

"Yuffie.....?" Abruptly the man jumped away from the weapons prodding him and spun around to face her, then they stared at one another. After a few moments of the staring contest, Yuffie abruptly realized who he was and pointed her kunai at him.

"Y-You...! Ugly...Shinra...SOLDIER..." She floundered for his name. "Zack!"

Zack pointed back. "Ah! It _is_ you! Ohmanohmanohman!" His face broke out in a grin and he dropped the sword onto the ground, then before Yuffie could react he'd practically tackled her in a hug. "You've gotten so big!"

Yuffie yelped and started to panic, but then Zack let go again and put his hands on her shoulders, grinning like a loon. "Oh man, just look at you! You're all grown up!" He exclaimed happily.

It was like being reintroduced to a relative who hadn't seen her in years and Yuffie found herself mentally reeling, unable to process what had just happened. She put her kunai away as she tried to figure this out. Zack had been someone she had pretty much contacted when she wanted him to get to something for her and for the most part she'd been very careful not to let him get too physically close to her--except that time she'd stolen a summon materia from him that she'd later discovered she couldn't use and sent back. But when had he gotten so fast and why was he so happy to see her?! Not that she wasn't happy to see him of course, but.....

"You stopped answering my letters, you jerk!" She exclaimed, punching him as hard as she could in the stomach and hurting herself from hitting solid muscle.

"Ow!" Zack pouted at her, but then his expression turned sheepish. "....Well...ahaha.....I was kinda....um.....busy. Occupied." He stepped back, letting go of her and rubbed the back of his head.

"Busy?!" Yuffie was indignant, she put her shuriken on her back and went to sock him again in spite of her smarting knuckles. "You forgot about me, didn't you?!"

Zack caught her wrist before she could complete her swing and shook his head slightly, his expression now a bit saddened. "I was in a bad place, Yuffie......you're not the only one who didn't get replies to their letters." He told her softly, but then he perked up suddenly. "Oh! You were wondering where Cloud was!" He let go of her wrist and turned to pick up Merciless. "C'mon, I'll take you to him!" And without waiting for a response he'd put the weapon over his shoulder and was trotting down Mt. Nibel, leaving a bemused Yuffie to follow him.

\------------------------------------------------------------

Chaos roared in outrage.

The crystals within the cave, its birthplace, were smashed as if someone had taken a sledgehammer to them. For that, the proto-WEAPON was furious. Vincent however, seconded the rage for a different reason.

Lucrecia had been kidnapped, and he had no idea who had taken her. The only scent in the cave he could detect was Yuffie's. Whoever had kidnapped Lucrecia must have done so at least a couple of weeks ago, though Vincent hadn't been near the cave or anyone for at least three months. Chaos could have been raging that entire time and he wouldn't have known with the Protomateria shielding him.

Vincent now fully understood why nearly everyone had been reacting to him so strongly. The Protomateria had been buffering him from Chaos, but the proto-WEAPON had known something was not right with its birthplace. If he'd only listened, maybe he would have gotten there sooner! Gotten there in time.....

Pushing Chaos back with more than the usual effort, Vincent regained his own form and stepped forward to put his gauntlet hand on the edge of the now jagged remains of the crystal that Lucrecia had melded herself with. He caressed the edge almost lovingly before he spotted something yellow lying within the crystal and reached forward carefully with his right arm to pick it up.

 _Her hair ribbon._ Vincent clenched it in his hand and growled lowly, his lip curling up. Someone had taken Lucrecia, but this was left behind. Did they know Vincent would come here and left it purposely? Had Lucrecia? Why would they take her? Who _were_ they and how had they found her?!

 _Lucrecia...._ Vincent bowed his head, eyes closing in pain. Again he'd failed her, and now she was gone. Rescuing her was out of the question, he didn't know where she was. But he would find out somehow, and he would get her safe....if she was still alive to rescue.

His eyes opened again, pupils yellow and sclera black. Chaos was trying to force its way to the forefront again, and in spite of some trepidation, Vincent let it. He didn't know why the proto-WEAPON was continuing to be so furious, but as he was very angry himself he allowed it its freedom for the time being. He only hoped he wouldn't come to regret it later.

\------------------------------------------------------------

Cloud had no warning. One minute he was buffing some scuffs out of Fenrir, and the next he'd been tackled to the ground.

"Fooounnd yooooou!" Yuffie chirped cheerfully in his ear.

"......Ow." Cloud moved to push himself up, Yuffie's slight weight no problem for him to move. He got to his feet with her still hanging off his neck. "Did you need to ambush me like that?"

"Yep!" Yuffie let go, then gave him a swat to the back of the head. "You never said you knew Zack!"

Cloud blinked and looked over his shoulder to see his best friend coming up to join them, snickering softly with Merciless resting on his shoulder, then he looked at Yuffie and arched a brow.

"Yes I did. I told all of you that I thought I was SOLDIER because I'd muddled my memories with his. So I'd say it's _you_ who never said you knew Zack."

"Wh....?" Yuffie looked between the two men, then stared at Cloud with a confused expression. "...That's...he's...th- _that_ Zack...?!"

Zack grimaced and handed Merciless off to Cloud, unable to look at Yuffie right then. "Yeah....." He said quietly. "I kinda am 'that' Zack."

Yuffie stared between the two of them again. "So...so that's why you reminded me of him!" She pointed at Zack while looking at Cloud, her expression absolutely baffled.

Cloud turned away to pop open the sword compartments to place Merciless inside with the other pieces. "So, how do you know Zack?"

"We met--" Zack began before Yuffie interrupted him.

"Wait wait wait!" She flailed. "H-How is he....you said he'd died!"

"Ah....." Cloud glanced at Zack, who grimaced slightly, then he closed Fenrir's sword compartments and turned to face her.

"He _did_ die.....but well......" Cloud motioned vaguely toward the mansion behind him. "Hojo made clones of....a few people, and this relic I'd found at Mideel......I guess it put Zack's soul in his clone body." He rubbed his head. "I don't really understand it, to be honest."

Yuffie stared at Cloud, then her lip began to wobble and she switched her watering gaze to Zack. "But....but....."

"Aw come on, Yuffie.....don't cry." Zack looked a bit lost at her expression. "I'm back now, at least."

Cloud leaned back on Fenrir, too used to Yuffie fake crying to take this seriously. "She's more likely mourning the materia and gil she never got the chance to steal from you." He commented.

She spun on him, tears escaping her eyes to trail down her cheeks. "H-How can you _say_ that?! He w-was my friend and y-y-you.....!"

Zack stepped up behind Yuffie and put his hands on her shoulders lightly. "Hey, it's okay. It's okay."

"So Yuffie," Cloud spoke quickly before she could crank the waterworks up. "what brings you to Nibelheim?"

Yuffie rubbed at her eyes, sniffling. "I-It's a long st-story...."

Cloud arched a brow. "Uh huh...." He sighed heavily then. "I'm sorry, okay Yuffie? Please stop crying. You can tell me about it once you've calmed down."

Yuffie took a few minutes of sniffling, letting Zack rub her shoulders. After those few minutes though, she pulled away and gave Cloud a look. "Jerk." She growled at him.

"I know, I know. So what's this long story?"

"Hmph." Yuffie crossed her arms and didn't answer at first. "I was in the area of the Crystal Cave looking for materia and I decided to pop up and check on Lucrecia....." She eyed Cloud briefly as if expecting to be chided for it, but when he said nothing she continued. "When I got there though, the crystal was all smashed up and she was gone without a trace!"

Cloud's eyebrows went up. "Lucrecia is gone?" He repeated.

"Mm hmm." Yuffie nodded. "I couldn't get any reception out there, so I walked here so I could call Vinny and let him know. He's probably gotten there by now....."

"Ooh boy...." Cloud put a hand to his face. Sephiroth in his head, Zack back from the dead, and now Vincent's love was missing. _What else could possibly happen....?_ He thought to himself.

"But now I found you first!" Yuffie rubbed her hands together gleefully, grinning fiendishly. "I wonder if I'll get some kind of reward?"

"Wait.....what?" Cloud dropped his hand to look at Yuffie in confusion.

Yuffie pointed at him. "You've been gone for like, a month and a half or something and Tifa's called in the cavalry to track you down, and _I_ , the great Yuffie Kisaragi, found you first!"

Cloud stared at her mutely for a few moments, and then his hand returned to his face. "....That long, huh...?" Well, at least he didn't have to worry about Sephiroth taking control of him and destroying the world, because Tifa was definitely going to kill him.

Zack looked at Cloud, then at Yuffie, then back at Cloud again. "Well then, I guess we're not heading to the Gold Saucer, huh Cloud? If Tiff's looking for you, you should get back to her."

"She's not my keeper." Cloud half-muttered a bit sulkily. "She just worries, especially since my Geostigma...."

"You have Geostigma?!" Yuffie chirped in alarm. She darted at him with intentions of seeing where, but he fended her off with his arm.

"I don't have it anymore, Yuffie. Aerith, or.....the Lifestream.....cured it in Aerith's church, where the children went." Cloud sighed softly. "I guess I should get back to Tifa, though. If she's so worried about me she's sending our friends after me, then I shouldn't waste any time."

Yuffie backed off and eyed Cloud for a few moments, then she planted her hands on her hips and sighed heavily. "We've gotta wait for Vinny." She told him matter-of-factly. "He said he'd meet me here if he didn't find me at the Crystal Cave."

"......Alright." Cloud sighed and sat down beside his bike, both anxious to head back to Edge and glad to have a reason to delay facing Tifa's anger. Zack--unsurprisingly--began doing squats, though he soon shed his constricting shirt much to Yuffie's obvious delight. Cloud remained lazy and watched as Yuffie decided to try tackling Zack and a game of keep-away started, Yuffie chasing and Zack dodging. This went on for about fifteen minutes before Yuffie collapsed beside Cloud and flopped onto her back.

"Are you alright, Yuffie?" Cloud asked her, trying to hide his amusement.

Yuffie wheezed several times. "S...tupid...ugly...Shinra...."

"Am not!" Zack protested.

A smile tugged at Cloud's mouth. "You two are like siblings, or something." He commented.

Yuffie just continued wheezing and huffing, but Zack's expression turned thoughtful. Because Cloud had turned his attention to him, he also noticed the person they were waiting for coming in the rusted gate and moved to get to his feet.

"Hey Vincent." He greeted the older man, trying not to wince at the smoldering anger in his crimson eyes. "How is.....everything?" Now he _did_ flinch when the smoldering burst into fire. _Way to be tactful, Cloud. Maybe he'll do you in before Tifa gets the chance._

Vincent stopped his approach and put a hand to his face, exhaling explosively. "Lucrecia is gone and I know not who took her, and Chaos is angered that its birthplace was defiled." He said after a few moments. "It is a relief to see that you are safe, Cloud. Tifa will be glad to know."

"So Yuffie told me, more or less." He nudged the young ninja, who whined at him. "Is there anything I can do to help, Vincent?"

"I will let you know if I think of anything." Vincent dropped his hand from covering his eyes and looked at the blond, his expression much calmer. "Why is Yuffie puffing like a bellows, and who is this strangely dressed individual?" The latter comment was followed by a gesture at Zack, who was--reluctantly--putting his tight-fitting shirt back on.

"He's Zack, who Yuffie was chasing and couldn't catch. And yes, he's the very same Zack who I based my belief in being a SOLDIER on." Cloud leaned back against Fenrir. "I'll tell you what happened when we get back to Edge, because chances are Tifa is going to want to know as well and I don't want to have to keep repeating myself."

Vincent arched a brow. "It seems I need to keep in closer contact with you all. I apparently miss some rather interesting developments." He couldn't do anything about Lucrecia at the moment, so he decided to focus on the current conversation and try to keep Chaos suppressed so people would stop flinching from him.

Yuffie whined again louder and lifted an arm to wave weakly. "Vinnnyyyy...." She fussed. "help me uuuup."

"You can't get up?" Vincent's tone was bland, but inwardly he was amused. Yuffie irritated him sometimes, but at others he found her cute and endearing and for some reason his reaction was in the latter--perhaps because she'd been trying to catch a SOLDIER.

"Nooooo...."

"Hm." Choosing to humor the young ninja, he stepped over and grabbed her wrist with his right hand to easily pull her to her feet. He tried to let go and step back then, but when he let go of her she grabbed him in a tight hug.

"Hiii Vincent!" She chirped cheerfully, no sign of her prior exhaustion now. Vincent kept his arms at his sides and simply waited the hug out. He only had to wait a few moments before she let go of him and stepped back and to the side to avoid Cloud's bike so as to take a proper look at the taller man.

"Oh wow, nice boots Vinny!" She eyed the black, buckled, mid-calf boots that he was wearing. "You finally got rid of those clunky other things! About time too! I'm surprised you never tripped in them! What took so long, anyway?"

"My old bank account has been inaccessable until recently." Vincent explained with an arched brow, apparently not seeing what the big deal was.

Yuffie crossed her arms and huffed. "That's what mercenary work and selling mastered materia and stealing is for."

"Ah," Vincent responded a touch dryly. "but I wouldn't want to take over your market."

While Zack and Cloud snickered softly at the comeback, Yuffie proceeded to flail at Vincent, "Don't you know how much mastered materia are worth?! Especially support materia?!" She huffed. "I could sell two or three and be set for life!"

Cloud eyed her and arched a brow. "Yuffie, you're a princess. You're already set for life."

Yuffie crossed her arms and sulked.

"Only if she can find a husband of good status, from what I understand of it." Vincent spoke up.

Yuffie sulked harder.

Cloud smiled faintly, but then he sighed heavily and became serious. "Alright then." He said. "I guess there's no more putting this off. Let's get back to Edge. Will you be coming along, Vincent?"

"Yes." Vincent said. "I need to let Reeve know to tell Rufus to call off his Turks." He tilted his head slightly. "Apparently Tifa asked Rufus for help in finding you as well."

Cloud stared at his older friend for several moments, then groaned heavily and put his hand to his face. "Oh man....Tifa's gonna chain me to the bed or something. She must be pissed!"

"Chain you to the bed?" Yuffie put a hand on her hip and arched a brow, then smirked. "That sounds kinda kinky, Cloud."

"Oh for--just shut up!" Cloud turned toward his bike, face flaming red. "I'll see you two in Edge. Come on, Zack!"

"Uh....oh, right!" Zack scurried over to get on Fenrir behind Cloud. He barely grabbed hold in time, as Cloud brought the engine roaring to life and went peeling off around his friends. "AIEEEE!!!"

Yuffie started snickering, watching them go, then she turned to Vincent. "So!" She chirped. "How're we getting to Edge?"

Vincent looked back at her. "Don't you have a transport, or something?" He asked.

"No way Vince, I walked here." Yuffie paused and sighed, then scratched the side of her nose. "Well, I _did_ have a hover bike, but I had to ditch it when it ran out of gas...."

Vincent stared at her for several moments, then sighed heavily and put his hand to his face. "......It seems there's no help for it, then." He muttered.

"Huh?" Yuffie blinked at him as he moved away from her, then yelped when the transformation energy overtook him to replace his form with.....a very large wolf. The only Galian feature was the large horns protruding the sides of his head. "Vince....?"

Galian turned to look at her and gave a low 'wuff', then lay down, inviting her to get on.

Yuffie stared for several more moments before she squeed and hopped over to climb onto his back. "You're awesome, Vinny! I didn't know you could do this with the Galian. Oop!" She had to hastily grab hold of his fur when he stood up and then gave another squeal when he took off running full tilt in the same direction Cloud had gone. Soon she was laughing in delight however. She would probably get motion sick later, but for the time being she was having a blast.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cloud's [swords](http://i48.tinypic.com/dlkl51.jpg).
> 
> Crossposted to [DeviantArt](http://naosuloff.deviantart.com/gallery/34469925) and [FF.net](http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5454968/2/The_Planets_Enemy).


	3. On Edge

It was late afternoon when Fenrir idled to a stop beside Seventh Heaven--Cloud's attempt at being stealthy--and Cloud got off his bike. Or rather, tried to.

"You....can let go now, Zack."

The ex-SOLDIER whimpered and reluctantly released his friend, then toppled sideways off Fenrir to sit on the ground acting traumatized. "Drives like a crazy person...."

"Oh come on! I'm not that bad!" Cloud got off and looked down at Zack, then sighed. "You're as bad of a drama queen as Yuffie, did you teach her that?"

"That's drama _king_ , thanks." Zack climbed to his feet and brushed himself off. ".....I think I ripped the shirt."

"Wouldn't be surprised." Cloud looked away from Zack then as the front door of Seventh Heaven burst open and Marlene and Denzel came tearing out to latch themselves to either side of him.

"Guess you guys really missed me, huh?" Cloud dropped his driving goggles around his neck and put his hands on the children's shoulders, acknowledging the affection and feeling a pang of guilt. For all that neither child was his, Denzel for all intents and purposes essentially was and who was he to just up and vanish anyway? He didn't have Geostigma anymore, so he had no reason not to spend more time at home.

 _This one isn't really my fault though._ Cloud thought, looking down at them. _Sephiroth was the one who took me away from them this time.....oh, how am I going to protect them when the enemy is myself....?_

Denzel looked up at his guardian. "Tifa's been really worried about you, Cloud." He told him while Marlene nodded agreement, her face still hidden against Cloud's clothing. "Did you get lost on the way home?"

"Hm....I guess I did." Cloud ruffled Denzel's hair affectionately. "Sorry about that, you two."

"Hey Cloud," Zack swayed on his feet, prior trauma seemingly all forgotten. “won't you introduce me?"

"Mm....right." Cloud gave Marlene a gentle nudge. "Marlene, Denzel." He motioned to Zack. "This is my friend, Zack. We met up while I was on my way back home."

"Why're you dressed like that, Mr. Zack?" Denzel asked curiously.

"Oh....err.....monsters got my clothes, couldn't get ones that fit at the time." Zack rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, then made a face when the movement made the back of his overly tight shirt rip further.

Marlene let go of Cloud and walked boldly up to Zack, then she planted her hands on her hips and stared at him. "You're really tall." She stated after a few seconds.

"Oh? Well, if you say so." Zack crouched down to her level. "That's a nice hair ribbon, by the way. Reminds me of an old and dear friend of mine."

Marlene reached back to touch the pink ribbon she always wore in her hair. "You knew Aerith?" She asked curiously.

"Mm hmm." Zack smiled and nodded. He looked about to expand on his explanation further, but the door of the bar opened again then and Tifa herself stepped out.

"Cloud...." She began, but then trailed off when she caught sight of Zack. "Kids....please go inside for a few minutes. I need to have an adult talk with these two."

"Cloud's not in trouble is he?" Denzel asked, letting go of Cloud to obediently head inside.

"No, he's not in trouble. Just please go inside now." Tifa waited for both Marlene and Denzel to obey her, and then she hopped down the steps to approach them. ".....Cloud said you’d died." She said, looking at Zack.

Zack straightened up again and rubbed his head. "Err, well...."

"He _did_ die, Tifa." Cloud spoke up softly. "This is a clone body....I’ll give more details once Vincent and Yuffie get here, I still need to explain to them too. But....this _is_ Zack. Can’t clone a soul....."

"Can't clone a soul?" Tifa looked at Zack dubiously and raised her eyebrows.

"Yeah, that's right!" Zack sulked a bit and huffed. "Look, I _do_ in fact have some idea how this happened, but I'll tell that when Cloud tells his story." Cloud blinked at him, but Zack ignored his friend's curious expression.

Tifa was silent for several seconds, but then she sighed heavily and planted her hands on her hips. "Fine. First order of business is getting you clothes that fit properly. There's nothing here, so it looks like Cloud will have to take you shopping." She gave the blond a firm look. "And you'd better come right back here afterward."

"Yes, mother." Cloud dodged the swat Tifa aimed at him. "Let's go, Zack."

"Err....is there any other way? Like.....a car or something?"

".......Oh come on, you big baby." Cloud moved back to his bike. "I'll have to drive slower in town anyway.....and we need to drop by Aerith's church."

Zack perked and moved to follow Cloud. "In the slums? What for?"

Cloud glanced at him and pulled his goggles on, settling forward on the bike in preparation for turning it on. "Your sword's there."

"Aww, Cloud." Zack climbed on behind him and grabbed hold. "That's so swee--" Cloud turned the bike on and peeled out. "EEEAHHH!"

A small smile tugged at Tifa's mouth, knowing perfectly well that Cloud was obviously driving like that to scare his friend, as he was perfectly capable of driving sanely when he felt like it. She turned to head into the bar again, shaking her head slightly. While she personally had doubts that this mysteriously appearing clone somehow had the real Zack's soul, she still allowed herself to feel happy for Cloud, as he'd spoken as if Zack had been his closest--possibly only--friend in Shinra. _I hope things work out for the best._ She thought.

\------------------------------------------------------------

The Turks were preparing to leave Icicle Inn when the call came.

"Yes, sir. I understand. Thank you, sir." The conversation was a brief one, and then Tseng hung up and looked at his team.

"Cloud has been found by a member of his team, so we no longer have a need to search for him and can return to our original objective."

"That's great!" Reno said with feeling. "Y'think that's why the old vampire left in such a hurry this morning?"

"Possibly." Tseng turned toward the helicopter.

Reno and the others trailed after. "Maybe we should've asked him if he knew were the boss was....." The red-head half-muttered.

"If Veld was able to hide from us, then I highly doubt Vincent would know any more than we do. That aside" And Tseng turned to look at his team with a firm look. "he is a member of Cloud's team and cannot be trusted."

"Eeeh." Reno glanced at his fellows, then looked back at Tseng. "Look Director, I didn't like the guy. He's way too damn snooty, but....we're not still against them, are we?"

"Are you implying that the Turks can't handle this ourselves, Reno?" Tseng asked calmly.

"I'm implying that extra eyes on the lookout for the boss wouldn't be such a bad idea." Reno responded. He looked at Rude and Thessa again. "Right? We can use'm to help find the boss!"

"You're such an idiot, Reno." Thessa said with exasperation. "Former rebels led by a former Infantry scout would be about as much help as a flock of headless chocobos."

"That 'flock of headless chocobos' saved the friggin' world, ya know!" Reno shot back. "And Vince--"

"Enough!" Tseng snapped. "Start it up, Reno. Our next destination is North Corel."

".......You got it, Director." Reno stepped past him to head into the cockpit, Rude following him in. Within five minutes, the chopper was taking off into the sky to head to its next destination.

\------------------------------------------------------------

"I'm tiiiiired!" Yuffie whined while she walked beside Vincent into Edge.

"You've been sitting all day." Vincent responded.

"And hanging on while trying not to throw up!"

Vincent gave the young ninja a dry look. "You _did_ throw up." He reminded her. "Twice, in fact. The only blessing was neither time was on me."

Cait, who they'd picked up from WRO HQ when Vincent had dropped by to let Reeve know Cloud had been found, snickered while Yuffie stuck her tongue out at Vincent and didn't otherwise respond. For a couple of minutes she was quiet, but then she started up again. "I'm huuungry....."

"We're almost to the bar. I'm sure Tifa will give you something to eat."

"But I'm hungry _noooow_!"

Vincent glanced at her out of the corner of his eyes. ".....The term 'suck it up' comes to mind." He commented mildly.

Yuffie glowered at him and planted her hands on her hips. "You don't have a sympathetic bone in your body, do you?"

"Have you said something I am supposed to feel sympathy toward?"

"Hmph." Yuffie crossed her arms and sulked. "......Aren't you tired and hungry too, Vinny?"

"Oh indeed, and there's a convenient meal walking right next to me."

"He's got yae there, lass." Cait commented with another snicker.

"Urk!" Yuffie gave a start, glared at him and then at Vincent. "That's not funny!"

A brow quirked. "......Here is the bar." He said instead and hurried his steps slightly to head inside. He was brought to a halt however by hands fisting solidly into his cloak.

"Hey...." Yuffie said, her tone lower and more serious. "Cloud's not here yet."

"I'm sure it's nothing to be concerned about, Yuffie." Vincent tugged at his cloak to get it free of her.

".......Vinny. What do you suppose he was doing in Nibelheim? And Zack popping up too.....it just seems kind of fishy."

Vincent sighed softly. "He'll tell us when he arrives, Yuffie. Now I thought you were hungry and tired?"

"........Fine." Yuffie let go of Vincent and sulked past him to head into the bar, leaving the older man with a puzzled expression on his face.

 _I wonder if it's possible to understand women....._ He mused, following the young ninja inside.

"Welcome, you two." Tifa greeted them from behind the bar. "Are either of you the ones who found Cloud?"

Cait popped up from behind Vincent. "Hey! Yae forgot me!"

"That was me!" Yuffie said at the same time in response to Tifa, puffing up proudly. "Do I get anything?"

"Oh, hello Cait." Tifa greeted him, then she looked at Yuffie. "And you get a thank you and food and board for the night." She chuckled softly at Yuffie's immediate sulking, then turned her attention to Vincent, relieved to see she didn't have the problem looking at him that she had the other day and raised a brow. "Reeve told me you'd been sent off with the Turks. Did something happen, Vincent?"

"Yes, but I would much rather not discuss it right now." Vincent sat at the bar. "May I have some wine, Tifa?"

"Mm, of course." Tifa turned away. "Red or white?"

"Red, please."

Tifa looked over the options. "Any particular one?"

Vincent arched a brow. ".....Old?"

Tifa chuckled and uncorked a Vernoi to pour him a glass, then turned back to set on the bar in front of him. "Not picky, then?"

"Not in particular." Vincent slipped the stem between his two middle fingers to pick up the glass and smell the drink before taking a sip. "Yes, this is fine."

"Good to know." Tifa leaned on the bar, looking past Vincent to Yuffie who had sat herself with Cait at a table by the door, seemingly having forgotten what she had been complaining about on the way and was polishing her materia. Tifa looked back at Vincent then from the corner of her eyes. ".......So what do you think about Zack?" She asked softly.

"Him as a person or the fact that he was apparently dead for several years before this point?"

Tifa shrugged slightly and straightened up again. "Both, I suppose."

"Mm." Vincent swirled the liquid in the glass and took a sip while he considered his reply. "Yuffie had apparently been chasing him around before I arrived on the scene, she was exhausted but he was not even slightly winded. For his personality itself I could not really say, as our meeting was brief and rather casual. I suppose he comes across as rather cheerful and perhaps somewhat excitable."

"And the fact he's apparently been dead?" Tifa prompted.

"Cloud did not give much detail on that, though he said he would explain once we were all assembled here." He arched a brow at Tifa. "Although I don't know if he meant just us, or the entirety of the team."

"But what do _you_ think of it, Vincent?"

Vincent tilted his head so some hair fell in front of one eye while he regarded Tifa with the other. "......They were all in front of Shinra Manor when I arrived, so one could suppose that Zack's re-appearance would have something to do with that cursed place."

Tifa blinked and then frowned deeply. "But how? Hojo's long gone and someone would have found something.....wouldn't they?"

Vincent shrugged and straightened up. "I've said it before, Tifa. Hojo was a brilliant scientist." He took another sip of his wine. "For the time being, an assumption that Zack is somehow connected to a project of the man's is not all that far fetched."

"Mm....." Tifa leaned back on the counter behind her and glanced at Yuffie and Cait again, who were at least _pretending_ not to be paying attention. When she returned her attention to Vincent once more, she was still frowning. "One more question. When Cloud and Zack dropped by here before I sent them off to get Zack some decently fitting clothes, Cloud said 'you can't clone a soul'. What do you think of that?"

".....You certainly are filled with deep questions today, aren't you?" Vincent sighed softly and continued on without waiting for an answer. He looked down at the metal counter as he talked. "I think that is a question beyond any mortal's ability to truly answer, but my personal take is that it would be true enough. A body is made up with DNA, but a soul is....a soul. The most scientific of minds would deny the existence of such, because ghosts are rarely seen and harder to prove." He looked up at her again. "I think the question is, can you clone a _mind_? Is the brain where memories are forever stored, or is it merely the 'backup' for the soul? Who can say?"

Tifa was silent for several moments, and then she gave a frustrated sigh. "That just brings up more questions."

Vincent took another sip. "Then maybe you should wait for Cloud to tell us what happened."

Tifa pursed her lips and sighed again. She doubted Cloud's explanation would answer her real question, which was 'is this the real Zack'. She had only met the man once when he had come to Nibelheim with Sephiroth and a couple of infantrymen--one of whom had been Cloud. She didn't know Zack _nearly_ well enough to know if there was anything off about him....but then, she hadn't known Cloud that well either, and she'd been able to tell something was wrong with _him_ while he'd been claiming to be a SOLDIER. Her train of thought cut off when she heard the purring sound of Fenrir's idling engines side up to the bar and all attention turned to the door to wait.

Cloud stepped in first with his bike's saddlebags, his lips quirked in the faintest of smiles that none the less made Tifa's own expression soften a bit. Cloud was always so serious that seeing that mask break was like seeing the sun after a rainstorm. Her attention switched from Cloud however when Zack came in.

Zack was wearing a sleeveless light blue zip up sweatervest similar in design to Cloud's, as well as gray cargos. He was also carrying the Buster sword over his shoulder in a casual pose. A casual pose that was ruined quite thoroughly when Yuffie launched out of her seat to tackle him.

"Ugly Shinra SOLDIER!" She greeted him cheerfully in spite of her words, ignoring Zack having to flail to keep his balance. "Y'got any materia for me? Huh huh?"

Once Zack recovered from being ambushed and overbalanced, he gave her a bit of a strange look. "No I don't and that's not my wallet....y'know, since I don't have one yet."

Yuffie blushed and hopped away. "I-I knew that!" She stammered. "I just wanted to grope ya!"

Cloud had been trying not to laugh, but that set him off and he had to put his hand on the back of a nearby chair to support himself. "Okay....before I tell them anything else, you _have_ to explain how you two know each other." He snickered.

"I beat him up in Wutai!" Yuffie puffed up proudly. "He was skulking around being all Shinra-y, but I taught him a lesson!"

"Err....yeah. You sure taught me." Zack put the sword down by the door. "It was during the Wutai war." He explained. "I was standing in front of the......Pagoda? I think that's what it's called." He rubbed his head, then continued. "And then Yuffie ambushed me and beat me up!"

"Yuffie beat you up." Cloud intoned flatly, arching a brow. "Zack.....she couldn't have been more than twelve at the time. There's no way she would've been a challenge."

Zack rubbed his head. "Erm well.....she was about.....ten or so...?"

"I'M WUTAI'S GREATEST WARRIOR!" Yuffie broke in, flailing. "I _DID_ BEAT HIM UP, YOU SPIKY HEADED JERK!"

"When you were ten?!" There was no way Cloud was buying this.

"YES!"

"There's nae need tae yell, we're nawt deaf!" Cait complained, covering his ears with his white-gloved hands.

While Yuffie sulked, Zack tried to salvage the situation. "In any event.....she somehow got my contact info and kept sending me missions. Between the official ones it was something to do, so I'd humor her. We didn't really ever _know_ each other....." He shrugged.

"Alright then. Everyone come over here." Tifa turned away to start pulling things out to make dinner. "I'll make us all something to eat, and Cloud can finally tell us where Zack came from."

"Well, when a mommy loves a daddy....." Zack started up jokingly before Cloud elbowed him.

"That's Tifa's 'I'm gonna be sleeping outside' tone of voice." Cloud explained softly to his friend. "If I've really been gone as long as Yuffie said, then I'm gonna need a hell of a good reason for it." He headed over to sit at the bar and Zack rubbed his head and followed him.

Once seated at the bar with everyone, Cloud rooted through one of the saddlebags he'd had over his shoulder the whole time and came up with the relic, which he plunked on the bartop. "I found this in Mideel." He began. ".....I just went back there to confront the memories, but when I found this.....I suddenly felt the need to go to Nibelheim." And while the confronting the memories part hadn't been exactly true, Cloud realized that he _had_ gotten the urge to go to Nibelheim when he'd picked up the relic--he'd been assuming until just that moment that it was to do with Sephiroth.

Cait climbed up on a chair to stand on and leaned over. "What's that?"

Tifa turned back to peer at the relic. "It looks like a miniature building."

"It looks like the Pagoda." Yuffie piped up, also peering at it. Lightning quick she'd snatched it and was turning it over in her hands.

"Careful with that, Yuffie." Cloud said warningly.

"Oh, calm down." Yuffie peered inside, then reached into her pocket and pulled out a lockpicking tool. She stuck it in one of the tiny windows by the tiny door and flipped something inside that unlocked the door, then she reached in with a couple of fingers and pulled out a pinkish white crystal. "Wonder what this is?"

"Hm...." Tifa tilted her head. "That's not materia..."

Vincent lightly plucked it from Yuffie and held it up to the light, ignoring her sound of protest. "It seems to....vibrate. Or perhaps pulse. Like a heartbeat."

"A pulse?" Tifa blinked and frowned. "I wonder what that means....." She shook her head. "But we're getting off topic. You were saying, Cloud?"

"Oh....right. Well, I got to Nibelheim late so I decided to spend my night in the mansion rather than the inn......the upper floors were disgusting, so I headed down to the basement--you and Deepground really broke a lot of stuff down there, Vincent."

Vincent simply arched a brow, palming the crystal so Yuffie or Cait couldn't get it.

"........Right." Cloud grimaced slightly and continued. Now to explain the situation without mentioning the unwelcome guest in his head. "Well, it was too early to sleep, so I decided to wander around a bit--thought maybe I'd run into a monster or two. Something to do.....but I found a secret door behind a wall instead and behind that wall were.....well, bodies in mako. One of them was Zack. Then the relic started glowing and the next thing I knew, Zack's trying to get out."

"Hm.....and Zack?" Tifa turned her attention to the ex-SOLDIER. "What's the first thing you remember?"

"As far as that event's concerned.....well, I was dreaming and then Aerith woke me up. She told me 'it's time for you to go', gave me a 'push'" He made air quotes. "and then I suddenly find myself drowning in stagnant mako.....which at least I don't smell as much of now thanks to that awesome shampooing the hairdresser gave me." He mussed his re-cut hair, which was very similiar to the style he'd worn before he'd died as he would always choose to honor Angeal--even if no one but him and possibly Cloud understood that.

Everyone stared at him for several moments before finally Cloud broke the silence. ".....Aerith......."

"Well, yeah." Zack tilted his head at his friend. "I mean, Aerith didn't really show any Cetra abilities when I knew her besides growing those flowers where no flowers should've grown...."

Cloud kept staring. "But you mean.....you were aware.....in the Lifestream?"

"Well....." Zack rubbed his head. "Sometimes. If Aerith or you needed me. Otherwise I just had nice dreams....."

Cloud leaned on the counter and put a hand to his face. "So I wasn't just seeing things...." He muttered.

"Cloud?" Tifa said, concerned. She reached out to touch his arm.

"I just.....while dealing with Sephiroth's remnants, I felt or _saw_ Aerith, and even saw Zack a couple of times.....I thought my messed up mind was just playing tricks on me, but...."

"Nope, it was real." Zack rubbed his friend's back. "Aerith said you were easy to get in touch with 'cause you've got mako in your veins. Didn't mean to make you question your sanity, bro."

Cloud sighed heavily and rubbed his nose, then straightened up again to look at Tifa. "Where are the kids?"

"Upstairs." Tifa turned away again to continue the making of dinner. "Shelke came over while you were out and I think her and Marlene are subjecting Denzel to dress up."

"Hm. I'm surprised he hasn't tried to escape yet, then." Cloud snickered softly, but then he twitched and put his hand back to his face.

"Cloud?" A few of his friends intoned, with Cait adding in: "Are yae okay, lad?"

"I'm fine." Cloud heard his own voice say. "I'm just tired....it's been a long few days." His body moved on its own to stand up. "I'll just go rest for a while."

"Do you still want dinner?" Tifa asked.

".......Sure." Cloud moved to head upstairs, his body moving as if with a mind of its own but giving away nothing to his friends. It wasn't until he collapsed to the floor in his own room that he realized what had happened.

 _"You!"_ He snarled mentally, struggling back to his feet and turning to clumsily close the door, his body feeling sluggish and slow.

 _"I told you, you're nothing but a puppet."_ Sephiroth sounded amused. _"Have a seat, Cloud."_

Cloud remained standing out of pure spite, though he swayed like he was drunk. He didn't say or think anything more at Sephiroth, his mind running frantic circles. _He's getting stronger....it won't be long until....._ But then he realized something else and his panic shut off in the face of that revelation.

"You don't want them to know about you...." He muttered, finally moving to sit on his bed. "That's why you made me come up here."

Sephiroth was silent at first, but then he laughed. _"What would your so called friends do, I wonder? Kill you? Lock you up? Keep you asleep?"_ He continued to chuckle. _"What would Zack do? Who is it you fear the most, Cloud?"_

"I'm not afraid." Cloud gritted out. His head was starting to throb.

_"Why did you keep running then?"_

The question was simple, but thinking on it just made his head hurt more. He swung his legs over to lie down and covered his eyes with his arm. ".......No matter what they did," He said, in the end choosing not to answer Sephiroth's last question, but his first. "it would be for the best......whatever it takes to stop you."

Sephiroth didn't reply, but Cloud's headache pounded relentlessly. The pain somehow dragging him deeper until he managed to fall asleep against it.

\------------------------------------------------------------

Tifa had watched Cloud go in concern, but then she turned her attention to her friends and the ex-SOLDIER sitting at her bar.

"Alright." She said. "I'm making curry beef. Is that acceptable to everyone--who can eat, that is?" She looked at Cait.

"Ae can eat." Cait responded, sounding almost offended. "Oh, actually this might be the best time tae tell yae." He put his hands solidly on the bartop. "Ae used tae be run on mako power, but a'course that's nawt a very good idea anymore so Reeve's trying mae out on alternate energy. Ae can get fuel from certain foods." He tilted his head. "Donnae know what gives mae the most energy yet though."

"So you're like an eco-car." Tifa said, sounding amused.

Cait laid his ears back and sulked a bit. "Aye.....ae guess ae am." He conceded. "Ae need tae sleep also. Prolly nawt as long as the rest of yae though, and not as long as Vincent, hey?"

".........If you are referring to having spent thirty years asleep, then I would appreciate if you would not." Vincent said with forced mildness. "I was atoning for my sins."

"Yae have nae sense of humor, _do_ yae?"

"Not one you are likely to appreciate, no."

Tifa shook her head slightly at the banter and turned her attention over to Yuffie, who was poking Zack's arm. Zack was eyeing her, but he looked amused rather than annoyed. Tifa arched a brow and was about to make a comment on it when an explosion somewhere outside rattled the bar's windows.

"What the?!" She exclaimed, bracing herself on the bar. Vincent was the first one to react, slipping off his bar stool and drawing Cerberus before heading to the door to peer warily out a window.

".....Gather your weapons." He said before opening the door and slipping outside. Cries of surprise and fear leaked in, as well as the stench of burning oil....and flesh.

 _So much for things being peaceful and quiet._ Tifa thought ruefully and turned to turn off the stove while Zack and Yuffie both ran for their weapons.

Shelke, tugging Marlene and Denzel--who had not in fact been subject to girly dress up--came down the stairs, closely followed by a frazzled Cloud. "Tifa Lockhart." She said. "What has happened?"

"It's just Tifa." Tifa corrected absently. "And I'm not sure. There might be some kind of attack." She glanced to Cloud, and then looked to Cait.

"Ae'm nawt much of a fighter." The robot said briskly. "Ae'll stay here with the kids."

"I did not bring my weaponry, I will remain with them as well." Shelke looked over at Cloud when he passed her to follow Yuffie and Zack outside, then turned to haul Marlene and Denzel back up the stairs. Cait got off his bar stool to follow them.

When Tifa stepped outside after everyone else, she found she had to pause for a moment to absorb the scene. A car was on fire further down the street, its tires scattered around it as if it had been hit with a bomb. There were injured people nearby that Zack and Yuffie were pulling away from said vehicle, but as Tifa looked around herself she saw this was only the beginning of the chaos.

Several buildings no where near the vehicle were also on fire. Some citizens were trying to put the fires out with hoses, but they were fighting a losing battle. _What's going on?_ She thought with a frown, working her gloves on her hands. Cloud was nearby quickly assembling Merciless to its complete state, but Vincent was no where to be seen. "Hey!" She called to Zack and Yuffie, who had been the next ones to exit. "Did either of you see where Vincent went?"

Zack looked up and shook her head, but Yuffie pointed up at the roofs. "He saw something and went after it, probably the guy causing the fires!" She called.

"Great...." She muttered and turned to step over to Cloud, who was just putting his weapon on his back. "So, what should we do?"

"We don't know where Vincent went," Cloud said, closing the sword compartments of his bike. "I'll go take a look though." And before she could think to protest, he proceeded to jump and climb his way up onto the bar's roof, squinting off in the direction Yuffie had indicated to try and see where Vincent had gone. After a few moments, he thought he could see an unusual glimmering off near the center of Edge, where the Midgar memorial had been rebuilt after Kadaj's summon had demolished it. He jumped back down. "I think he's at the memorial." He glanced at Yuffie and Zack, then looked at Tifa. "Tifa, finish up helping Yuffie. When you two are finished here, head to the memorial and try to meet up with us. Zack, you're with me! I might need your backup." He then turned to get onto his bike--Merciless in its complete state wouldn't fit in the compartments and he couldn't take the time to take it apart again, so he simply made do. Zack hurried over to join him and grimly hung on as Cloud turned on Fenrir and peeled out.

" _Men!_ " Tifa huffed. She knew Cloud was trying to keep her and Yuffie out of whatever fight was coming, but she'd chew him out for it later and dutifully turned to the victims of the car explosion to help them.

\------------------------------------------------------------

When Cloud came to a stop by the memorial, he found Vincent alone, energy threatening transformation surrounding him, glaring in hatred at the sky.

"Vincent!" Cloud called, jumping off his bike and stepping over warily. "Vincent, what happened?"

For a few moments, the energy increased around him. But then slowly it began to settle again until it was gone. Vincent remained silent and still for another two minutes however before he slowly turned to face his leader. Cloud flinched at the expression on his older friend's face, Vincent was _livid_.

Zack slowly stepped over as well, even more wary than Cloud as he didn't know Vincent or about his monsters and so didn't understand why his body was telling him so strongly to run in the other direction.

".......What happened, Vincent?" Cloud prompted when Vincent just stared at him. It was difficult for the blond to continue to stare back at Vincent, as it felt like he was staring at an alpha predator--which if it was Chaos or Galian staring out of his eyes, then he was.

Vincent finally exhaled explosively and shut his eyes. "..........He has Lucrecia." He said softly.

It was easier now that Vincent wasn't glaring at him, but Cloud's mouth was still dry and he had to clear his throat before he was able to speak. ".....'He'?" Why was it that he could fight summons and Sephiroth, but Vincent's monsters could scare the bejeebers out of him?!

In response, Vincent held out a sheet of paper. "He left this. He said; 'one of your friends will know what it means'."

Cloud looked at the paper and frowned at it, reading the words on it. ".........What's this? It looks like a poem, or something."

Zack leaned over his shoulder. "My friend, do you fly away now? To a world that abhors you and I? All that awaits you is a somber morrow, no matter where the winds may blow." He read. "......That's a passage from LOVELESS." He also frowned at it, but then his pupils dilated. "........Genesis."

Both Cloud and Vincent stared at him, Vincent with incomprehension and Cloud with dawning horror as Sephiroth obligingly reminded him of who that was.

"The.....rogue First Class......?" Cloud said haltingly, images and memories not his own distracting him.

"Yeah......" Zack took the paper from Cloud and stared down at it. "I guess he didn't die after we left him at Banora......" He looked at Vincent. "So, what did he tell you?"

Vincent stared at Zack silently for several moments, monsters fortunately under control once more. ".......He told me I should give up the Protomateria, or Lucrecia will suffer." He turned away from Zack then and paced the short distance to the memorial to stare at it intently as if it would give him the answers he needed.

Zack looked at Cloud in confused concern, and then just plain concern when he saw Cloud's face had blanked out. "Cloud? Hey Cloud!" He snapped his fingers in front of his face.

Cloud gave a start and looked at his friend. "Huh...?"

"Man, you were miles away. What was going on?"

"Oh....mm....it's nothing." Cloud shook his head and looked over at Vincent. Even though he'd been stuck in Sephiroth's barrage of memories of Genesis, he had still managed to process what his friend had said. "Do you know where she is? ........Or where Genesis wants you to take the Protomateria?"

"No!" Vincent hissed, his glove creaking and his gauntlet hand flexing. "When I refused to give him what he wanted, he simply took off into the sky! ..........I've doomed her."

".........We'll get Lucrecia back, Vincent." Cloud told him firmly. "And we'll make Genesis pay for touching her. Come on, calm down. We'll find her."

Zack was scowling, it didn't make sense. Had Genesis known he was around, or had it been a wild guess? He stared hard at the handwritten passage from LOVELESS. Folding the paper to put it in his pocket, he decided he'd try to figure it out later. Genesis liked puzzles and riddles, so the answer was there somewhere. He remained quiet and pensive as Cloud coaxed Vincent to convince him to return to the bar and Zack found himself walking along with them as Cloud guided Fenrir back to the bar. This was definitely not good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cloud's [swords](http://i48.tinypic.com/dlkl51.jpg).
> 
> Crossposted to [DeviantArt](http://naosuloff.deviantart.com/gallery/34469925) and [FF.net](http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5454968/3/The_Planets_Enemy).


	4. Fatal Mistake

"Genesis, SOLDIER First Class." Zack began once everyone was assembled back in Seventh Heaven, most sitting at the chairs rather than at the bar. "I last saw him......well, a while ago. I've got no idea why he's doing this......"

Vincent was pacing a bit, agitated. "You were a First Class, right? Did you ever hear of something called 'Deepground'?"

Zack blinked, then shook his head. "No. What's that?"

"The only people who I would think would know about the Protomateria.......although I suppose Hojo or Lucrecia could have left notes of it somewhere......" He paused in his pacing to look at Cait.

"Aye, Hojo _did_ leave notes." Cait confirmed. "Ae donnae know if he was the only one who knew where it was though. Yae _were_ asleep for a long time, after all."

Vincent gave a low growl, and then resumed pacing. "So it's possible that Genesis could have gotten those notes......and clearly Hojo _did_ mention where it had been put or he wouldn't be after me now......but how did he know where to find Lucrecia? What does he want the Protomateria for? How does he know......" Vincent trailed off and then looked at Zack narrowly. "And what was he to _you_?"

Zack made a bit of a face and put his hands up. "He was no friend of mine if that's what you're asking, so you don't have to glare at me like that."

Cloud pinched the bridge of his nose. He'd still been dealing with his earlier headache and having all this information on Genesis 'helpfully' shoved into his mind by Sephiroth wasn't helping matters. "Zack's on our side, Vincent. No one is your enemy here. We're gonna help you rescue Lucrecia."

"No....." Vincent was more agitated now, his gauntlet now flexing as he paced like a caged animal in the Zoo. "This is my fault, my sin. I've taken out Deepground, I can handle one SOLDIER."

"One SOLDIER who's probably at least as strong as--ow! Damnable headache......" Cloud hissed as the pain intensified in his skull briefly. _Egotistical bastard....._

Zack frowned in concern at Cloud, then looked at Vincent. "Project G--for Gillian--created Genesis. He's like Sephiroth. I don't think he's as strong, mind you--Sephiroth kicked my ass but I was able to handle Genesis--but yeah. He _is_ kinda stronger than other SOLDIERs."

"So I imagine were Deepground." Vincent growled under his breath and stopped pacing again to just stand in the middle of the floor with his head lowered. "This is my problem, and I'll deal with it."

"Oh _yeah_ , because running off after some loony is a _great_ idea!" Yuffie spoke up caustically. "Did you forget what happened in Shinra Manor when I had to save you from that crazy bitch?!"

Vincent let out a soft snort and brought his right hand up to his face. "No Yuffie, I didn't forget.....but she'd managed to take me by surprise and--"

"You're not going on your own, Vincent." Cloud interjected. "And it's not up for debate either. Someone messes with one of us, they mess with all of us. We stick together, okay?"

Vincent tilted his head to look at Cloud quietly for several moments. ".......That reminds me......did you find your answer to the question you asked me in the Forgotten City a while back?"

Cloud blinked and furrowed his brow, having to think hard to remember what Vincent was talking about, but then his features relaxed and he nodded. "Sometimes......sins _are_ forgiven."

"Heh. Sometimes perhaps......" Vincent sighed a soft but heavy sigh and finally moved to sit at an opposite row of tables from the rest of them. "Where could he even be?"

Zack took the paper out of his pocket to read it over again. "There're a lot of questions, actually." He said, smacking the paper with the back of his hand. "I know he probably didn't know I'd died, but there's no way he knows I knew Cloud and I only just _met_ Vincent......so unless he was at Nibelheim....." He shrugged.

"It wasn't necessarily aimed at you." Cloud said, his tone holding some inner relief as his headache finally began to abate. "Though it _does_ still beg the question how he would know any one of us might understand what that passage is supposed to mean.....it means he knows the members of my team......" He sat back on his chair, thoughtful. "Let's see......Cid said he'd been to see a LOVELESS performance once, maybe he knows Genesis." He frowned then and looked at Vincent. "Though how does he know _you_? You would have been asleep when he was born."

Vincent made a sound of frustration. "Questions piling upon questions and no answers to be found. Rather than focusing on all this speculation, we should try and find his location. Where would he go? Where would he be able to hold someone?"

"I'll get a map." Tifa got up from her chair to head around behind the bar. She dug around for a minute or so, then returned with a world map and motioned Vincent over, then sat down and unfolded the map. It already had little notations on it that Cloud had put to map out routes for his delivery service, as well as to teach Marlene and Denzel world locations. "So let's see......the Crystal Cave is about here" She pointed. "and the closest locations to it are.....Nibelheim, North Corel and the Gold Saucer. Then there's Cosmo Canyon in the other direction. Nibelheim is the closest location and I suppose some of the caves on Mt. Nibel could be used......but there are monsters and it gets freezing cold up there at night, especially at this time of year....."

"The Gold Saucer wouldn't make sense." Cloud continued. "There's too much traffic there. North Corel maybe? They've probably built things up better there, but the community is still pretty small.....he could still have her kept anywhere between these locations though. Off the beaten path. There's bound to be cave systems and such, maybe even ones that don't have monsters living in them."

"..........He would likely need help." Vincent said lowly, having come over and now leaning over Cloud's chair. "It wouldn't be logical to leave a hostage alone for long and it took us a good part of the day to arrive here.....though the theory could follow that he _was_ at Nibelheim and followed us......still......"

"You said he took off into the sky." Cloud said. "So that means he has a wing......like Sephiroth, right?" It was a bit difficult for Cloud to word things as if he didn't already have the information in his mind....at least it wasn't befuddling him like his false Zack memories sometimes did. "Maybe he's a quick flier and can get back and forth faster than we can."

"Or he's left her with his copies." Zack spoke up, invoking stares. "Oh yeah...." He rubbed his head. "Probably should've mentioned that. Genesis can--well I guess he infects people--with his cells and make them into copies of himself. It seemed to make him degrade though..." He shrugged.

"Fine." Vincent growled and stepped away to begin pacing again. "I know what he wants, but I don't know where he is. I could have gone after him as Chaos, but chances are I would have killed him and be unable to find Lucrecia....." He reached up to touch his bandana briefly, fingers shaking slightly as a visible sign of his agitation. "He holds all the cards and I have nothing...."

"You have what he wants." Cloud pointed out, turning to watch his friend pace. "It's a hostage situation....aren't Turks trained to deal with those?"

"......Yes, of course....." Vincent sighed heavily, gave himself a shake and looked at Cloud. "I don't know if she's safe, I don't even know if she's alive.....if she is dead I can avenge her, if she is alive I can rescue her. The only clue has to do with that passage from LOVELESS.....so......how does Genesis think? What significance does the passage have?"

"Ha. If a member of the Study Group was here I could ask them for an interpretation." Zack set the handwritten passage down on the table beside the map and sat back, crossing his arms. "As best as I can remember, Genesis took LOVELESS as a description of his own life." He rubbed his head. "I think.....there are three friends mentioned.....and Genesis wanted to be the hero.....but he seemed to think Sephiroth was trying to steal his spotlight, so they always fought.....but I don't have a clue what any of this has to do with that.....proto thing."

"Protomateria." Vincent said. He smiled a faint and bitter smile. "It seems I will have to explain myself but for the sake of progress, I will try to make it brief." He closed his eyes for a few moments to collect his thoughts, and then opened his eyes again to look directly at Zack. "In brief....I was experimented upon by Hojo and monsters were added into my body, which I have been spending the last few years learning to control. The strongest one--Chaos--would be utterly uncontrollable if not for the Protomateria."

Zack's expression crumpled slightly, and he looked sad. "Genesis called himself a monster, and he got.....he got Angeal and Sephiroth to believe they were too." He slammed his hand down on the table abruptly, expression pained. "I lost my mentor and best friend because of him! Nibelheim burned because of him! Why does he do these terrible things?! Rrrr...." He put his face in his hands, but before anyone could think of something to say to him, he straightened up again and rubbed at his face. "Maybe that's why he wants it then..." He said wearily. "He might think it will make him not a monster anymore....." _Did you know about this, Aerith? Is that why you sent me back?_

"We're getting off track again." Tifa said, though gently. "Can you make any sense out of the passage, Zack?"

"Nnn....." Zack shook his head, but then he furrowed his brow and picked it up to read it again. "Maybe I can...." He said. "Genesis said this to Angeal.....in Banora. It definitely means he was in Nibelheim, and it definitely means this was aimed at me......but it would mean he's in Banora."

"Banora, then." Vincent said. "Where is it?"

Zack peered at the map for a few moments, then pointed to the Mideel islands. "Here." He said, pointing to the middle of the three islands.

"Hm." Cloud pulled out his cellphone and flipped it open. "I'll call Cid. I know he doesn't like flying at night, but I'm sure he'll make an exception."

"Oh goodie....." Yuffie said, sinking down a bit in her chair. "Being airsick is the best part...."

"Yae donnae need tae come then." Cait said. "Someone will need tae stay behind anyway tae watch over the--"

"Ohhh no no no." Tifa cut in, shaking her head. "If we leave Yuffie here, I'll come back and find the place has been cleared out."

"Hey!" Yuffie protested. "Don't you trust me?!"

"You're a klepto." Tifa responded. "Why do you think we all have chains on our wallets, Yuffie?"

"Hmph." She crossed her arms and sulked.

Cloud set his phone to speaker and set it down. "Evening Cid, it's Cloud."

"Cloud! Where've you been, you spiky-haired son of a bitch?!" Cid's voice was quite cheerful, and obviously glad to hear from him. "Tifa had the whole goddamn planet looking for you!"

"So I've been told." Cloud half-muttered. "Listen, we have a situation and we need your airship."

"Yeah? What for?"

Cloud glanced at Vincent. "Lucrecia got kidnapped by a crazy ex-SOLDIER named Genesis and we think he might be in Banora."

"Goddamn......" Cid muttered. "So this guy's in Banora, huh? Isn't that the place Shinra wiped out 'cause of some goddamn plague?"

"It was a cover-up, actually." Zack spoke up. "But can you come?"

"Who the hell's that?"

"Hurry on to Edge to pick us up and I'll tell you. We don't have any time to waste." Cloud spoke up again.

"Yeah....of course." Cid gave a few more choice swears and then hung up. Cloud closed his phone and tucked it away.

"So now we wait for Cid to get here." He said. "It will probably be a couple of hours." He leaned forward and clasped his hands together, staring down at the table. ".......Let's have some dinner, huh Tifa? Shelke can stay with the kids, and Cait too if he wants to. We'll get this done."

"Mm...." Tifa stood up to head over to the bar to start preparing dinner again.

Vincent looked around at his friends and then focused on Cloud. "........I'll go take a walk, I need to.....calm my mind." And with that he headed for the door, Cloud let him go. It would be better if Vincent was calm before Cid arrived, he figured. Though the two men were friends, Cid had a bit more of a problem with Vincent displaying his monsters than the others did--save for Barret, who had even _more_ of an issue with it.

However, Vincent had no intention of returning.

Once outside, Vincent took out his cellphone. He stared at it for a few moments, then flipped it open and turned it off. _I'm sorry.....but I can't get you all involved in this. This is my sin....I need to be the one to fix it._

He walked quickly until he found an empty street and he ducked into a nearby alley to transform into Chaos, then took off into the sky. He would get there before they did....he would make this right himself.

\------------------------------------------------------------

Not long after Vincent left, Cloud headed outside to take Merciless apart again and replace in the compartments of his bike--which he was naturally taking with him.

_"What do you think you can possibly do?"_

Cloud twitched, previously smooth movements becoming jerky as he continued to disassemble and compartment the parts of his sword. "About what?" He growled under his breath.

 _"Genesis. For all that he was a failure, he managed to outlive Angeal and I."_ Sephiroth seemed a bit annoyed about that fact. _"I wonder if Mother's chosen him instead.....?"_

"You're talking to yourself, Sephiroth." Cloud responded, feeling more annoyed than frightened of him at that moment. "And I told you already. Jenova wasn't your mother. You're contemptuous of him, so he was weaker than you and--"

"Cloud?"

Cloud stiffened and swore under his breath, then straightened up. He refused to turn around and face his friend, however. "Yeah, Zack?"

Zack stepped around the side of the bar to approach him and he reached out to put his hand on Cloud's shoulder, only tightening his grip when Cloud flinched. ".....So, that's where he went, huh?" He said softly.

Cloud didn't say anything at first, and then he slowly lifted his head and turned to look at his raven haired friend. His eyes were haunted and terrified. Not just of Sephiroth's presence in his mind, but what Zack would think or do now that he knew.

Zack just looked back at him steadily, then moved his hand and took a step back. "How long?"

"I....." Cloud shook his head. "A couple of weeks, I guess......I don't know. I'm missing some time......" He looked back at him. "Zack....."

Zack stepped back further to lean against the side of the bar. "Tell me what you remember."

Cloud looked around. "......Here?"

"Well we can't really go anywhere, man. Tiff's making dinner and then we've gotta go kick Genesis' ass. Remember?"

"Mmn....." Well, Zack hadn't jumped him yet. Overall, he was actually taking things rather well......which wasn't serving to make Cloud feel any less nervous, even if it was meant to. "Well....I had had a couple of drinks before bed, I'd been feeling kind of funny......and then the next thing I knew, I was waking up in the shadow of the Northern Crater and.......here he is." Cloud knocked half-heartedly at his skull and casted his eyes down.

Zack crossed his arms and tilted his head. "And Yuffie said you'd been missing for about a month and a half......so he's been there that long?"

"I don't know. I guess so....." Cloud grit his teeth and looked at Zack. "Zack.....if he takes over me--"

"Ohhh no." Zack straightened up and made a cut off motion with both arms. "Already went through that with Angeal. Essai and Sebastian too.....kind of." He shook his head. "Not happening, Cloud. I'm not killing any more friends."

"If Sephiroth takes over me you'll have to, Zack!" Cloud's voice rose in spite of himself, though he hastily lowered it again. "You know what he did to Nibelheim.....he wants to destroy the--"

"I said no." Zack broke in firmly. "Besides, are you _sure_ that's what he wants?"

Cloud just stared at him like he was insane and Zack sighed, bringing a hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose briefly.

"Yes, I _know_ he summoned Meteor--I was one of the active souls that helped to stop that thing--but you've been acting funny on and off since we got here." Zack looked around and then back at Cloud. "I don't think Sephiroth's after the same thing as before."

"He's just not strong enough yet." Cloud responded, trying to temper his panic back down. He'd been fine until he'd found himself discussing his head problem. "But once he is.....everything will change....." He bit his lip and put a hand to his face. "Zack......I'm not fit to lead and.....if you can't kill me, then.....then I'll just have to tell Vincent. He'll do it." At least, Cloud hoped he would. Though Vincent _had_ fought alongside him and the others up to the Northern Crater, he'd left with Yuffie to rush off to Midgar to evacuate everyone. Sephiroth was the son of the woman he loved--the woman they were going to soon be trying to rescue--Cloud didn't really know if Vincent would be able to kill the man--never mind that doing so would also kill Cloud.

Zack sighed softly and stepped over to Cloud. Clapping his hands down on the shorter man's shoulders, he gave him a gentle shake. "I'm not taking over your team and no one's gonna be doing any killing of you, bad guy _or_ good guy. Now calm down. What did I tell you before, Cloud?"

Cloud wobbled a bit like a broken bobblehead, but then he looked up with confusion. "Huh? What you told me before?"

"Cloud. You were my living legacy, just like I was Angeal's. I took up his Buster sword, and then I entrusted it to you and you retired it when you surpassed my legacy." He gave a crooked smile and moved his hands, stepping back again. "You're no infantryman, Cloud. You made it. You're SOLDIER. You've saved the world, you're strong.....not just in body, but in your heart." He tapped his friend's chest. "You getting me, Cloud? The point I'm getting to is, don't let this get you down and look beneath the surface. Sometimes, things happen for a reason."

"You think there's a _reason_ behind why I've got him in my head?!" Cloud hissed.

Zack leaned over and peered at him. "You're not acting like a six plus foot tall egomaniac on a high." He stated, then before Cloud could begin to do more than sputter that Zack wasn't taking the problem seriously, he continued. "So anyway, what's he doing in that blond noggin of yours? What's he want?"

".........He hasn't really said anything about wanting something." Cloud admitted. "Just taunts, basically."

"Hmn.....well try not to let it weigh you down. Whether I'm wrong or not, I think there's still time to figure things out."

Cloud sighed and shook his head. "Whatever....either way--" He cut off quickly when Tifa came around the side of the bar.

"There you two are. Come on. Dinner's ready. We should eat before Cid gets here." She looked up at the sky and sighed. "I hope Vincent gets back soon.....I've got a bad feeling....."

The two men looked at each other, then Cloud turned away briefly to shut the sword compartments and brushed past Tifa to head in. Zack followed with an eagerness that said he'd stopped all thoughts but the immediate ones of filling his belly. As Tifa turned to follow, she couldn't help a small smile of amusement. So this was Zack, huh? That was good, this team needed more cheerful people around to battle against the emo and grouch factor of the other men.

\------------------------------------------------------------

Reno stepped into the public washroom at the Gold Saucer. The Turks were staying the night there, though Tseng had ordered them to keep things to moderation as they didn't want to draw too much attention. He checked all the stalls, trusting Rude outside to keep people out for the time being and then stepped over to a urinal. While he took care of opening the fly of his pants to get his business out with one hand, his other hand pulled his cellphone out to sort through his contacts and dial a number.

"Hello?"

"Hey Elena. How's my favorite blond pain in the ass?"

"Oh....Reno, it's you." Elena tried to sound exasperated, but Reno could tell she was glad to hear from him. "You and Thessa aren't getting along, I take it?"

"Never have. We're like oil and water. So really, how're you doing? Any progress?"

"You wouldn't think so the way I'm being coddled around here." Elena responded with some exasperation. "But I think I should be just fine in another week, the nightmares haven't been as severe or frequent."

"Mm, that's good then." He gave a soft sigh as the flow got underway. "Don't rush things."

".....What are you doing?" She asked curiously, having caught the sigh.

"Eh, just takin' a whiz, yo."

"YOU CALLED ME WHILE GOING TO THE WASHROOM?!" She shrieked, making him have to hold the phone away from his ear, even while he snickered.

"It's quieter in here." Reno responded. "Besides, I don't wanna possibly get caught by the Director."

".....How _is_ Tseng, anyway?" She asked in a quieter tone.

Reno worked at stuffing himself away and zipping up again before he answered, heading over to the sinks. "Ehh.....he's not so good, actually. He's been getting real snappy and I don't think he's been sleeping very much either."

"Oh, Tseng....."

"Eh, you know the Director." He tucked the phone into his shoulder and waved his hands under the faucet to get the water running. "He works himself too damn hard. But y'know, his obsession with finding the old boss might have something to do with his Post-Traumatic Stress.....I just hope we finish up before he snaps."

"Do you _need_ to put it like that?! Besides, Tseng's a lot tougher than I am....I'm sure he's just fine."

"I'm sure you need to get over your crush on him....." Reno muttered under his breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothin'." Reno headed over to the paper towel dispenser. "So just think positive, Elena. Those bastard remnants are gone, so you don't have anything to be worried about anymore."

"......Yeah, _thanks_ Reno." The words seemed snide, but the tone was grateful all the same. "I'll see you soon, I hope."

"You just worry about yourself 'lena and I'll worry about not killing your sister, 'kay?"

Elena gave a snort and he hung up the phone, dropping it back into his pocket before he headed out to join Rude, only to find he already had company.

"Oh....hello Adrian."

Adrian casually looked over and pushed his glasses up his nose. "Reno." He acknowledged the redhead casually. "I'd say I was surprised, but.....I'm not. Has Shinra finally started the hunt for us? I'm a bit--"

"Geez!" Reno exclaimed loudly to cut him off. He wiggled a finger in his ear. "I forgot how freakin' long-winded you are!" He sighed heavily. "No, we're not hunting you down." He made a show of looking Adrian up and down, noting his button up gray shirt and blue jeans. "But I think you already know that, or you wouldnt've been patiently waiting with Rude."

"I trust my former comrades." Adrian responded calmly. "And I saw Thessa walking with Tseng, so I had a suspicion things had changed in our favor."

"We're looking for Veld." Rude broke into the conversation. "Will you help us find him?"

Adrian looked back at Rude and arched a brow. "You're looking for the boss? Why?"

"The Director--that's Tseng, by the way--wants to find him. The President announced a pardon for you guys, and I guess Tseng wants to make sure the boss knows." Reno shrugged. "Personally, I think Tseng wants Veld to take over again.....he's been kinda stressed lately."

"The President announced a pardon?" Adrian frowned deeply at Reno. "Has he had a change of heart then, or does Rufus have something he's using against him to insure our safety?"

Reno arched a brow and finally moved away from the men's washroom to walk, Rude and Adrian falling into step with him. "Boy. You're out of the loop, aren't you? The President _is_ Rufus. His old man got knocked off years ago by Sephiroth."

"Sephiroth.....so he really _did_ go rogue against the company like the other First Classes?"

"Heh....." Reno shook his head. "I donno where you've been all this time Adrian, but you've gotta pay more attention to the news. Sephiroth didn't go rogue against the company, he went rogue against the _world_. I'm _sure_ you must've heard what happened to Midgar about four years ago."

"It was supposedly the end of the world." Adrian responded.

"Yeah.....well, I know a lot of stuff was kept low key......but Sephiroth summoned that thing. Supposedly it took the Lifestream itself to stop it." Reno grimaced a bit. "Anyway, Rufus is on our side....so, getting back to Veld. Do you know where he might be?"

"No. We went off in all different directions. I think your brother went with the boss and his daughter, though."

"Geez.....Xander of all people.....and he's only my _half_ -brother." Reno sighed. "Well, are you gonna come with us to find the boss?"

"I may as well. My katana and I have been itching for some excitement for a while."

Reno snickered. "Oh, I'd say things will definitely be exciting."

\------------------------------------------------------------

As Vincent in Chaos' form spiraled down to where the proto-WEAPON's excellent night vision told him the ruins of Banora were, he wondered if he was making a mistake. It wasn't the first time in the hour and a half flight that he had wondered this. He was alone, the town had been bombed out so no one lived there and there was no electricity. While Chaos' senses were excellent, what if there was an ambush waiting? The clue had supposedly been aimed specifically at Zack, and Genesis would never expect him to come alone. Zack had said something about copies as well. Like Sephiroth's?

Touching down as softly as he could, he folded his wings and scanned his surroundings again, sniffing the air. His wingbeats had been the only sound and now there was silence and all he could smell was the sweet smell of apples gone rotten and fallen off the trees. What if Zack had been wrong? What if his memory had been faulty, or the lines hadn't been aimed at him at all and had a different meaning? Or what if--

Hearing fire ignite behind him was all the warning he had. He spun around and to the side he narrowly avoided being hit by a fireball. Squinting, he growled softly. What had he been thinking, trying this by himself at night?! All it took was a little light, and now there were spots dancing in his eyes.

"So, that's Chaos, hm?" Genesis' voice spoke out of the darkness and lights snapped on about where his head would be. Night vision goggles--Deepground night vision goggles. "Did you come without your friends, Vincent Valentine?"

"Where is Lucrecia?" Vincent growled, his voice made echoy by the form he was in. He flexed the proto-WEAPON's wings in agitation.

"With my 'brother'." Genesis chuckled softly. "When the war of the beasts brings about the world’s end, the goddess descends from the sky. Wings of light and--"

"Enough!" Vincent snarled. "Hand over Lucrecia to me and I might consider sparing your life."

"Oh how noble." Came a low voice from behind him, and then pain lanced though his midsection. Dumbly, Vincent looked down to see two thin swords coated with his blood sticking out of him. Before he could fully comprehend what had happened however, the blades were pulled free. Again Vincent spun around to face someone he could have sworn he'd killed.

"Weiss!"

"Oh, you remember me? I'm quite flattered." Vincent snarled wordlessly, though the sound cut off abruptly when Weiss stepped aside to reveal who was behind him.

Lucrecia stood there, being restrained by two men adorned with one black wing each and one holding a sword to her neck. It was hard to see colors with such a lack of light, but the costuming didn't seem right for Deepground soldiers. Unlike Genesis and Weiss, they didn't seem to be equipped with night vision goggles. Neither was Lucrecia, but her eyes were wide open and staring in the direction she had likely heard his voice come from. As Vincent stared, caught between attacking who was in front of him and not wanting to risk Lucrecia being harmed by him doing so, the man not holding the sword reached up to remove her gag.

"Vincent! Vincent, _run_!" She near shrieked, trying to break free of her captors without cutting herself on the sword near her skin. "Don't worry about me, just get out of here!" She was quickly gagged again to stop her from saying more and her sounds dissolved into low whimpers.

"Lucrecia....." He whispered, in near agony. He sidestepped finally so he could keep both Weiss and Genesis in sight and began glancing between them. He'd made a mistake. If he had come with his friends, if he had only waited.....

"You have one last chance to hand over the Protomateria." Weiss stated calmly, shaking his gunswords to get the blood off. "You don't want your precious woman to get hurt, do you?"

Vincent snarled, curling up his lip. "........How did you know where she was?"

Weiss chuckled softly and tapped his temple. "The arrogant scientist left his knowledge behind in my head when my brother helpfully eliminated his presence. Now then Vincent, what's your answer?"

"He's a Turk." Genesis spoke up. "One life means nothing to them."

Weiss chuckled softly. "I suppose that's true." He spun his swords and gave a put-upon sigh that was entirely sarcastic, then he lunged at Vincent.

Parry, parry, swipe, duck, parry, parry. Vincent was kept occupied trying to fend Weiss off. He quickly became focused on his enemy, so much so that he forgot about the other one until pain once more lanced through him from behind. This weapon brought with it fire and he screamed as it tore through him. He lost consciousness briefly, and when he came to once more he found himself on his back with Weiss standing over him. He found he could barely make the white-haired man out, but the thing in his hand was clear enough.

"N-No...." He rasped with bloodied lips, staring in horror at the Protomateria held aloft. He heard a muffled scream that likely came from Lucrecia, a sound that cut off with a gurgling sigh. He struggled to get up, to move, but the pain was just too great and he sagged down again. Chaos' feral intelligence began to bubble up within him and he let it come. Let it take him, he had nothing left to lose.

Genesis entered his view then and knelt down. He was holding a box-like device in his hands and this he pushed down against the monster's chest wound where the Protomateria had been. Chaos gave a screaming roar and tried to lash out, but a moment later.....Chaos was gone and Genesis stood up once more with the box now lit up in his hands.

"Well," Weiss commented, standing up and admiring the Protomateria. "at least that woman was good for _something._ " He turned to walk away, laughing and Genesis turned to follow him.

Vincent shut his eyes, tears of frustration and grief slipping free. He'd failed.....

_Lucrecia.....everyone.....I'm so sorry.........._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cloud's [swords](http://i48.tinypic.com/dlkl51.jpg).
> 
> Crossposted to [DeviantArt](http://naosuloff.deviantart.com/gallery/34469925) and [FF.net](http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5454968/4/The_Planets_Enemy).


	5. Immortal No More

After Cid called Cloud to let him know he'd arrived and landed his airship outside of town, Cloud spent the next little while shuttling everyone to said airship on Fenrir. When the last person had been dropped off, Cloud remained on Fenrir and took out his cellphone. He'd been calling Vincent every couple of minutes only to get his voice mail every time and this was no exception either.

"I just realized" He said to Cid, shutting his phone with a frustrated click. "this isn't the Shera, is it? It seems smaller."

"Well, you'd be right!" Cid responded, taking a drag of his cigarette--he wasn't allowed to smoke at home, but he sure was going to when he was away. "This here is another part of the fleet, the Squall. Is Reeve's little furball not coming with us, Cloud?"

"No. We left Cait back at the bar with Shelke and the kids." Cloud scowled at his cellphone.

"Still can't get a hold of Vince, huh?" Cid took another drag and then dropped the butt on the ground to grind it out. "Maybe that means he's made his own plans."

"What? His own plans?" Cloud looked at him, caught between a trickle of worry and incredulousness. "Vincent went out to clear his head. His cellphone must have just lost its charge."

"You're making excuses, kid." Cid crossed his arms, looking across at Cloud with the harsh spotlights of the Squall casting long shadows on them. "Listen. I know Vince, he's the goddamn godparent of my son for shit's sake and he's probably will be of the one on the way too! Point is, I've seen a lot of him. The son of a bitch tries not to lie, but he leaves things out. So what'd he tell you, Cloud? Did he actually _say_ he was gonna be coming with us?"

Cloud stared at his older friend while he tried to recall Vincent's exact wording and slowly color drained from his face.

"Cid..." He said slowly, tucking his phone in his pocket. "we need to go. We need to go _now_!" And suddenly he was turning Fenrir on and tearing off for the back of the airship to put his bike on board.

"Well hell.....I was _really_ hoping I was wrong." Cid muttered and turned to run onto the airship and get the engines started up. This airship was one of the later models where they'd taken what they'd learned from repairing the Shera after its participation in the battle against Deepground and refined it. As such it didn't need as much monitoring as the Shera did and Cid could one-man it if he had to, which he was doing tonight.

"Alright everyone!" Cid announced to the others as he entered the flight deck and headed up to his wheel to begin the start up sequence. "Listen up! I don't want anyone puking all over my goddamn deck or you get to clean it up, you got me Yuffie?!"

Ever the eloquent young woman, Yuffie responded to this by giving Cid the finger. He snorted in amusement, though Zack seemed to be shocked that she'd do that. Tifa just rolled her eyes and tucked some hair behind her ear. "How long do you think it will take us to get to Banora?" She asked.

"Eh." Cid scratched his nose. "Without redlining the engines, probably a little under an hour. If I pushed this girl as hard as I can, maybe half that.....though I'd rather not have to risk breaking down. Without a crew to fix her, we could end up stuck for a goddamn long time."

"Just do your best, Cid." Tifa turned away to look out the view window.

"Heh. Of course." The grizzled older man smirked, but then sobered again and turned his attention to Zack. "Now then, while the engines get prepped......who the hell're you?!"

Zack blinked. "Oh, I guess in all this fuss I didn't introduce myself." He stood at attention. "Zack Fair, SOLDIER First Class! .......Well, former SOLDIER, I guess...." He rubbed the back of his head.

"SOLDIER, huh? Seems I've heard that one before." Cid looked over the readings on his dashpanel, then looked over at Tifa. "Where the hell'd you pick this one up Tifa, or did Spiky drag him home?"

Tifa looked back at him, faintly amused at Cid's wording. She shook her head however. "Cloud will explain when he gets up here." She said, and looked away again. "Though I'll warn you ahead of time that it seems a bit unbelievable."

Zack pouted a bit, but didn't say anything and shortly settled into doing squats. He supposed Tifa was right though, people didn't just come back from the dead....especially when they'd been dead for several years.

\------------------------------------------------------------

Cloud finished locking up Fenrir and had opened the sword compartments to remove Merciless and Sidewinder. Connecting them together, he placed them in the sword holder on his back and shut the compartments again. He then put both hands on his bike, shut his eyes and sighed heavily.

"Well, Sephiroth? What now? We're going after Genesis, who--feel free to correct me--you seem to be pretty contemptuous of, so what will you do? Are you going to help me, or are you going to keep making snide comments in my mind and giving me headaches?"

_"Direct and to the point. It seems the puppet is growing a spine."_

"Enough." Cloud gritted, eyebrow twitching. "Sniping comments isn't like you, and we both know it. If you're so bitter about your situation, then maybe you should just _leave._ "

Sephiroth didn't respond at first, leaving Cloud waiting for several moments. _"Do you honestly think I would be here if I had a_ choice, _Strife?!"_ The once General and hero finally snarled.

"You called me, didn't you?" Cloud responded. "So I'd say you had a choice....but fine. If we're stuck together for the time being, we may as well make the best of it." He opened his eyes and moved away from his bike to turn and lean against a wall, crossing his arms. "You oh so helpfully decided to give me information on Genesis, but nothing immediately useful. So what can we expect? Fighting style? Any tactics to use against him?"

 _"When did you stop being afraid.......?"_ Sephiroth mused, but then he continued before Cloud could respond. _"Genesis is no problem. He may even be defeated by the ally you're so concerned for. Otherwise....."_ There was the impression of a shrug. _"His fighting is about as brutish as yours, though somewhat quicker. There's very little finesse behind it."_

Cloud pursed his lips and closed his eyes again. He ignored Sephiroth's appraisal of his fighting methods and thought about the meaning behind the words. Sephiroth had shown him several times when he'd sparred against Genesis and another man that had been identified through Sephiroth's memories as Angeal and Sephiroth had been more than a match for them both--except the time Genesis had challenged Sephiroth on his own and proven almost a worthy opponent. He furrowed his brow and thought harder, not even seeming to notice when the airship gave a shudder as the engines powered up and it began to lift off. Finally, after several minutes of thinking, he spoke again.

"What are your intentions, Sephiroth....?" He opened his eyes and then gave a start when he saw Sephiroth standing there in front of him.

Sephiroth smirked and folded his arms, tilting his head and looking down at the shorter man condescendingly. _"Don't worry so much, Cloud."_ He purred mockingly. _"I'm just a manifestation within your own mind."_

"Oh wonderful, now I'm seeing things." Cloud muttered. He tilted his head back at Sephiroth to meet his green, slit-pupiled eyes and tried not to shudder. So long this man had been his enemy, a horror to defeat, that now seeing him standing in front of him--never mind that this manifestation was a phantom that only he could see--it was hard for him not to reach back for Merciless. He shook himself out visibly and sighed.

"Alright, fine." He said, finding it harder to keep his tone level now. "I'll try this another way. You're stuck in my head, but you're getting stronger. What are you planning to do? You're being helpful right now, but that isn't going to last is it? Intending to use me the way you did Kadaj?"

Sephiroth gave a lazy, cat-like blink to nicely match the appearance of his eyes and remained silent for several uncomfortable seconds. Just when Cloud might have started fidgeting however, the once General gave a gusty, suffering sigh and broke eye contact with Cloud to look around the holding bay.

 _"If you're half the leader you think your companions think you are, then you shouldn't burden your mind with unnecessary worries."_ He spoke in a serious tone that threw Cloud off for several moments. He wasn't speaking as the sociopathic murderer, he was speaking as SOLDIER First Class, hero of the Wutai war and General. _"You should be concentrating instead"_ He looked back at Cloud and it was an almost conscious effort for the younger man not to stand at attention. _"on what you're going to do when you arrive at your destination."_

Cloud was the one to look away this time. Here he was getting advice from the man who'd tried to destroy the world no less than twice, and he was _considering_ the advice! He found himself caught between paranoia that Sephiroth was trying to distract him away from the topic so he could do as he liked and get away with it, and taking the advice at face value. In the end, he sighed and pushed away from the wall. "Thanks for the advice." He said, not looking at the phantom. He stepped past him to head on up to the flight deck. Whether Sephiroth was trying to distract him or not, the advice was still sound. He couldn't afford to be distracted by worries for himself right now, he had to concentrate on the task at hand. His strides became longer and more confident as the words he wanted to say formed themselves in his mind and by the time he reached the bridge, he was ready to greet his team.

"Took you damn well long enough to haul up here!" Cid greeted him. "You gotta be late for everything, Spiky?!" The words were said with affection, but Cloud frowned at Cid anyway and stepped out to the middle of the bridge so he could see everyone. He caught a startled glance on Zack's face as he turned back to face his friends, but he chose to ignore it for the time being.

"Vincent disobeyed orders." He began. "But we're not a military establishment, and I don't really care that he disobeyed so much as what the ramifications of his actions will be. He was emotional when he left, and if he's really gone to Banora we can only assume that he walked right into a trap. I only decided to set out right away because I thought he wouldn't wait otherwise, and now we're flying into the very same trap regardless.....we can only assume Genesis has Vincent as a prisoner as well--if not worse. Banora was bombed out, right Zack?" He didn't pause to wait for his answer but forged on ahead while he still had his momentum. "There won't be any lights where we're going, and I'm sorry that you're flying blind Cid. Somehow we need to find Vincent. I can only hope that Zack was wrong and Genesis isn't there, or if he was that Vincent was able to defeat him and rescue Lucrecia.....either way, be prepared for the worst." Cloud exhaled softly and shook himself out. That had been quite the speech, the like of which he was pretty sure he'd never given. From the startled looks now adorning everyone's faces, he was probably right.

Tifa recovered first. "Right." She said, straightening up and taking out her fighting gloves to put on her hands. Yuffie sat down hard on the deck, but then she pulled her oversized shuriken around to fumble with her materia and reslot it. Cid just gave a brief grin and jaunty salute, then went back to concentrating on his piloting.

"Uhm....Cloud, can I talk to you for a minute?" Zack asked, motioning to the door.

Cloud blinked at his friend. "Oh. Yeah. Sure thing, Zack." He followed the other man off the bridge and down the hallway.

Once Zack deemed them far enough away he stopped and suddenly spun around to grab Cloud by the front of his shirt with both hands and slam him hard into the nearest wall, knocking the breath out of him.

Cloud wheezed and wiggled weakly, having been taken completely off guard by the attack. "Z-Zack....what are you doing?!" He squinted at him, scowling.

Zack stared at him for several moments, then gave a soft 'hmph' and let him go. He took a step back and eyed his shorter friend in silence for several seconds. "When you walked out onto the bridge, Sephiroth was gliding along behind you. He vanished right before you turned around to face us."

Under other circumstances, the look Cloud got on his face would have been priceless and he looked back down the hallway as if he might see his dire enemy standing there. He then quickly snapped his head back around to stare at Zack in distress. "You could see him?!" He hissed.

Zack arched a brow and loosely crossed his arms, then gave a small nod. "Though the fact that no one else reacted tells me that I'm the only one who did." He looked thoughtful for a moment. "So you knew he was following you?"

Cloud grimaced and looked back down the hallway again, then he stepped back and activated a motion sensor door to step into a room. He ushered Zack in after him and waited until they were both inside and the door was shut before he spoke again.

"I.....I knew he was there, but he said....." Cloud sighed heavily and put a hand to his forehead. "that he was essentially only someone I could see. I guess I should have known better than to believe him."

Zack thought about it for a few moments, then he shrugged slightly. "So long as your other friends can't see him, I guess it doesn't matter."

"But why could _you_?!" Cloud paced to the far end of the small storage room and looked out the porthole.

"Donno. Maybe it's the mako or Jenova cells or maybe it's because I was dead and so can see dead people?" Zack shrugged again. "Does it really matter why? I already knew he was in your head, it just surprised me."

"......Any one of those reasons means Vincent could probably see Sephiroth too, and he probably wouldn't keep it from the others either." Cloud hit the wall with the flat of his fist. "Assuming Vincent is alive to see anything, that is. I should've kept a closer eye on him!"

"Calm down. Worrying isn't gonna help anyone." Zack crossed his arms again and frowned. "But why don't you want them to know, Cloud? You were fretting at me earlier about what would happen if he took you over, so why don't you want to let them know?"

Cloud shot his friend a panicked look briefly, but quickly looked back out the porthole and sighed heavily. "Because they wouldn't take it as well as you are." He said softly. "They might stop listening to me, lock me up somewhere or.....something. And they'd have every right to do it." He paused for several moments. "Maybe I _should_ tell them, then when he _does_ take me over someone can take care of it."

"That again...." Zack sighed heavily and put a hand to his forehead in a weary motion. "Well, Sephiroth is obviously getting stronger if he can manifest outside of you even if I'm the only one who can see him do that.....but I'm still not convinced he's the same guy who.....well, you know." He shook his head. "Alright, enough stressing over it. Let's get back to your friends. You've gotta explain to your pilot how I'm back from the dead anyway."

".......Yeah." Cloud sighed and turned away from the porthole to head to the door, not looking his friend in the eye and left the room to return to the bridge.

"Hey kid, what was that about?" Cid asked as soon as Cloud entered with Zack following him.

"Private matter." Cloud responded. He gave himself a shake and looked up at Cid. "Zack reminded me that not all of you know the story of how he showed up though, so...." And he launched into the story, though as he'd left the relic at the bar he was left to describe it and the sensation it gave off. Once his story was finished, Cid shook his head.

"That sounds like one hell of a goddamn powerful doohicky." The older man commented. "But hey, if it can bring back the dead then maybe it can bring back other people too." He arched a brow.

".......You mean like Aerith?" Tifa spoke up after a few moments, her expression turning thoughtful.

"Uh uh." Zack made a cut off motion with his arm. "I say no." All eyes focused on him, and he hastened to continue. "This body was preserved in mako, but I'm betting you didn't do that for Aerith so her body's all decayed. I don't think it would work."

"But it's worth a try, isn't it?" Tifa pressed. "She was your girlfriend, wasn't she Zack? Wouldn't you like her back?"

"Well yeah, but--"

"Hey, I'd hate to interrupt" Cid spoke up. "but we're coming up on Banora. What's the plan, Spiky?"

Cloud rubbed his forehead. "Light up your searchlights and fly in as low as you dare so we can get to the ground quickly if we have to." He turned to look out the front view window, tense.

They all heard when Cid dialed down the engines and they watched as the searchlights snapped on to display the ground in sharp relief below them. Holes still dotted the landscape from when Banora had been bombed, though they had grass and other things growing lush within. The Planet was slowly healing here, but the group's eyes barely registered the signs of destruction and recovery to instead search for their missing companion. It was Tifa who saw the first signs and she gasped, pointing at heavy stains of blood that still glistened mostly fresh. Cid put on the brakes immediately and came to a hover, flicking a switch to take control of the front searchlights and direct them to follow the stain until the trail went under a small Banora tree grove where the light couldn't see.

"Take us down, Cid." Cloud said grimly, hoping that the blood was Genesis' and not Vincent's but not able to hold much hope of that. He turned to head out to the drop hatch and the others moved to follow, even Yuffie who had her arms around her stomach from motion sickness. Once Cid had gotten the Squall on the ground, the hatch opened and Cloud led his friends out into the night with only the searchlights to show the way. They moved cautiously but quickly, following the blood into the grove only to find exactly what they feared.

"V-Vinny!" Yuffie cried in pained alarm, followed by a whimper as her airsick stomach protested such an outburst. Tifa put her hands over her mouth to express her own horror and even Cloud had to look aside for a moment.

Vincent sat limply against the curving trunk of a Banora tree, his clothing stained in blood. Lucrecia was propped against him, blood also staining her clothes from the neck down where her throat had been slit. They both seemed dead, but then a low hiss was heard and dull ruby eyes opened to look at them. Vincent slowly lifted his head, looking at them almost with incomprehension for several moments before his expression cleared.

"You followed." He rasped softly and shut his eyes again with a soft sigh. "But not quickly enough....."

Cloud looked back at his friend with sympathy at his pain and he heard a muttered oath behind him as Cid joined them, but then he moved forward. "Vincent." He said, kneeling down in front of his friend and ignoring Lucrecia's corpse. "Do you know where he went?" It was important that they caught Genesis as soon as possible. If he was capable of doing this to Vincent Valentine, then the things he could do to the average population......

Vincent's eyes opened once more and stared at him stupidly for several moments, then gave an almost invisible shake of his head. Cloud sighed softly and looked back over at his friends. "Cid, take Lucrecia to the ship. Zack, can you help Vincent? He doesn't look like he can stand on his own right now."

"Oh. Yeah. Of course." Zack moved to head over, but both he and Cid stopped when a low, feral growl emanated from Vincent's throat. Cloud instinctively hopped back and to his feet, wary that Vincent was about to lose control and transform. Vincent's eyes had brightened indeed, but there was no sign that he was about to become one of his monsters. After a few moments, he settled again and sagged wearily. "Yes, take her. She is naught but a body now, the soul is fled, the flesh is cold. Nothing but.....she is at rest now. She is with Aerith." He brought his right hand up to cover his face. "Her body will rest with Aerith...."

"No no no!" Yuffie exclaimed suddenly. "The relic! The relic can fix this!" She dashed over carelessly to grab Vincent's arm and tug on it. "It can bring back the dead! It'll be okay, Vinc--"

"No!" Vincent snarled, lashing out at the ninja girl and only missing because he was suffering bloodloss. "This is what Lucrecia wanted! For years she wanted to die, to be freed of her sins! She's free now, she no longer suffers! I won't have it!" Again his anger was short-lived and he seemed to cave into himself. "This is my sin" He muttered. "but at least she is no longer suffering....."

Tifa and Cloud shared a glance, saying silently to the other that they feared their friend had gone mad with grief. After a few moments however, Cloud prompted Cid and Zack on to their tasks. "Yes," He agreed with Vincent's statement then. "we'll take Lucrecia to the Forgotten City. She'll rest with Aerith and Aerith will take care of her in the Lifestream...."

Vincent gave no reply, only sagging wearily against Zack when the younger man helped him to his feet to help him onto the ship. Cid shuddered a bit as he picked up Lucrecia's body, but he mastered his feelings and only turned to follow. Their short trek back to the airship was silent and somber like a funeral and they paused almost as one when Cid detoured briefly to put Lucrecia in a room until they could go to the Forgotten City to put her to rest. Vincent lifted his head at this and made a low, pained noise. "Cid....?" He intoned, sounding in that moment like nothing more than a scared young man.

"She's just gonna rest there until we can take her to Aerith, Vince." Cid told his friend quickly. "It'll have to wait until tomorrow though, the airship can't land around all those trees and that isn't a good place to be wandering around at night."

"Yes, Vincent." Cloud spoke up. "We'll do it tomorrow after the sun is up. We need to get what sleep we can."

Vincent allowed his head to fall and he shut his weary eyes. "Sleep, perchance to dream of better days or on somber wings to fly away....."

Oh yes, Vincent had definitely lost a few eggs from his basket. With a slight shake of his head, Cloud led the way back to the bridge where they to the last settled to sit on the floor. Yuffie chose to sit next to Vincent and lean on him in spite of his bloody clothing, but he seemed absolutely unaware of her and shortly after they had settled themselves Cid entered to start the engines, remotely close the drop hatch and start the flight back to Edge.

\------------------------------------------------------------

Though it had only taken an hour to return to Edge, it seemed like an eternity before Cid was setting his airship down once more on the outskirts. About half way back he had called Reeve to update him on the situation and when he set down the ship, they found WRO vehicles waiting to transport them back to the bar. Cloud, who tended to get claustrophobic in such vehicles opted to follow the other vehicles on Fenrir and Zack joined him. The ride back was silent on all fronts and even when they arrived at the bar, no one talked. It wasn't until they entered the bar itself that voices broke the heavy silence.

"Vincent!" Shelke and Marlene cried out nearly as one voice when they saw his battered and bloody form being helped in by Zack. Cait covered his eyes with a groan and though Denzel didn't make any sounds, he gave a shudder and turned his face away.

"He'll be alright." Tifa assured them. "He's just had....a bad night." She looked back at the nearly catatonic gunman then and frowned a bit, not certain of her own words. "Come on, Zack. Let's get him onto a bed."

"You got it." Zack continued to help Vincent along to follow Tifa behind the bar and up the stairs to place him in a guest room meant for patrons who had managed to drink too much and needed to sleep it off. Once satisfied that Vincent was as comfortable as they could make him, Tifa herded Zack back downstairs.

"Shouldn't you be using a restore materia on him or something?" Zack asked as Tifa shooed him ahead of her back down the stairs.

"Vincent heals very quickly, Zack." Tifa responded. "All that blood on him is old, he just needs to sleep off the bloodloss now.....and come to terms with what happened."

"Yeah....." Zack intoned sadly. He'd thought Genesis had turned over a new leaf after he'd defeated him in Banora that last time, but it seemed he was wrong. _SOLDIER doesn't mean monster, but it really seems like I'm the only one who ever truly believed that...._

Re-joining everyone else downstairs, they settled in the row of tables to the left of the door. "So, what are we going to do?" Tifa asked right away, looking to Cloud.

"I don't know...." Cloud had Marlene sitting beside him, though the eight year old was clinging more to Cait on her lap and Denzel than to him. On Denzel's other side, Shelke was sitting stiffly and when Tifa spoke her eyes shifted between her and Cloud.

"Who harmed him?" The twenty year old trapped in the body of an eleven year old asked in general, her tone a little more emotional than usual.

"A man named Genesis." Tifa answered, looking over to Shelke. "But don't worry, we'll take care of it." She paused briefly and shifted her attention to Marlene and Denzel. "It's past time for bed. You too, Shelke. You all have school tomorrow."

"But I don't want to!" Marlene protested, squeezing Cait tighter. "Vincent got hurt, I want to help him!"

"He'll be alright." Shelke spoke up before Denzel--who had been about to speak himself--could. "I will care for him. I am accustomed to not getting much sleep." She paused briefly. "I will simply be 'sick' tomorrow. You can pick up my homework."

"But--!"

"Shelke's got the right of it, lass." Cait tried to soothe, patting the arms holding him. "Though" He turned his head in Shelke's direction. "yae _are_ overdue for yae're treatments."

For a brief moment Shelke looked defiant, but then she gave a soft sigh and nodded. "I suppose I will go tomorrow morning, then." She said. "Vincent Valentine is very resilient and should be physically fine by dawn and will not need to be watched over." Though her words were steady, she sounded like she was trying to convince herself and she moved to stand. "We should prepare for bed now. Come on Marlene, Denzel."

Denzel looked between the two girls briefly, then moved to stand and follow with Marlene giving an upset look to the adults before she moved to trail after, still holding Cait.

Things were silent again until they could hear the children moving quietly about upstairs and then Cloud sighed heavily and put a hand to his face. "What will we do....what _can_ we do? We don't know where Genesis went and until Vincent's ready to talk we can't know what happened."

".......You said he was asleep in a coffin?" Zack said slowly. "A coffin in Shinra manor?"

Everyone turned their attention to him. "That's right." Cid spoke up, giving Zack a bit of a strange look. "The old bastard said he'd been sleeping off his sins for about thirty years or so."

"Then I've definitely seen him before." Zack said. "Cloud's told you about the Nibelheim mission, right? Well, I had some time to kill the day we got there and so I'd decided to make chummy with the townsfolk. Well, a little boy told me about the 'seven wonders of Nibelheim' and one of them was that there were often strange noises that came from the basement of the manor so I decided to check it out.....and there was your friend Vincent snoring away in one of the coffins. I didn't try to wake him up though.....creeped me the hell out, to be honest. Genesis was in Nibelheim then too, so maybe he'd found him the same way.....or something."

"Or found out about him later, maybe?" Cloud said musingly. "Hojo had experimented on him, so there were probably notes on it.....Deepground found him, so no reason others couldn't too."

"Genesis Rhapsodos was once taken to Deepground." Attention shifted over to the stairs as Shelke made her reappearance. "The Tsviets--save myself, who was deemed too weak--were infused with his cells. When he refused to join us however, he was allowed to leave and his location became unknown." She frowned a bit as she stepped over to them. "The only thing of note concerning Vincent Valentine was found years after his departure however, we were not even seeking the Protomateria until a few months before we located him."

".....Shelke, what _is_ the Protomateria?" Cloud asked. "Reeve told us that's why Deepground had been after Vincent, but he couldn't give details and Vincent wouldn't say anything at all."

Shelke moved to sit at the table by theirs. "The Protomateria is the key to controlling Chaos, or so Lucrecia Crescent had believed. It materialized at her side to enable her to help Vincent Valentine calm the proto-WEAPON after it became evident that he could not control it himself. The only other thing I could assume would be of interest would be the monsters Professor Hojo infused into him, though I cannot imagine why Genesis Rhapsodos would have interest in that."

"Oh....yes, Vincent had said something like that, hadn't he? Alright, well....." Cloud sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Tomorrow we're heading to the Forgotten City to put Lucrecia to rest, and after that....hopefully Vincent will tell us what happened."

Shelke lost color in her face. "Lucrecia.....Lucrecia Crescent is dead?"

"Yeah...." Cloud looked to the former Tsviet. "Genesis killed her."

Shelke shut her eyes and lowered her head, but a few moments later she moved to stand. "I may not be the best choice to watch over him tonight, then. Though her data no longer is degrading my own mind, my presence may cause him to think of her." She looked to Yuffie. "Yuffie Kisaragi, will you care for Vincent Valentine in my stead?"

Yuffie blinked owlishly at her. "Uhm....yeah, sure."

"Thank you." Shelke turned to go upstairs again.

Cloud sighed and his hand went back to his face. "Let's try and get some sleep, then after we've put Lucrecia to rest we'll see if maybe Vincent is willing to tell us what he might know."

"But what if he doesn't?" Tifa asked quietly. "He seems to be grieving pretty heavily, and he might not know anything we can use to find Genesis anyway."

"Then you can call Rufus again and tell him to get the Turks looking for a rogue SOLDIER." Cloud moved to stand up, his tone turning angry. "It's about damn time Shinra cleaned up after itself rather than leaving us to deal with their mistakes anyway." And with that he turned to stalk upstairs.

Zack gave a wince and a grimace at Cloud's words, though he supposed he couldn't blame him. Not only did he have Sephiroth in his head, but a former member of SOLDIER had killed an innocent woman and nearly killed one of his friends.

"......Alright then." Tifa slowly moved to stand herself. "Let's get you and Cid rooms, Zack. Yuffie, I'll find you a comfortable chair so you can stay with Vincent without disturbing him."

"Yeah, thanks...." Yuffie still seemed somewhat dazed, the horror of the night finally seeming to be catching up with her. She numbly followed Tifa and the others when they went upstairs, and continued to follow her like a lost lamb until the older woman found a comfortable chair to quietly move into the room where Vincent was resting. She settled onto it without a word and watched as Tifa left and quietly shut the door, then she curled her legs up to her chest and stared at Vincent lying still on the bed. If not for the quiet sound of his breathing, he could just as well been dead.

 _He's been hurt worse than this and survived._ Yuffie tried to reassure herself. _That crimson bitch tore his chest open and he healed up just fine, he can get through this._ Except....something was wrong. His breathing seemed to be uneven, and the smell of blood was too sharp. After a few moments in which she sat frozen, Yuffie uncurled and went over to turn the light on. When she turned back to Vincent, her breath caught in her throat.

The bleeding was slow, but it had not stopped and it had even begun to drip onto the floor. Yuffie whimpered several times before she was able to find her voice.

"Tifa...." She called weakly, and then tried again at a much shriller pitch. " _TIFA_!!!"

Hurrying footsteps answered her call and the door slammed open. "Yuffie, what--?" Tifa's attention turned from Yuffie to Vincent when the young ninja mutely pointed and then she gasped. "Shit!" She cursed. "Cloud! Get a Curaga or something! Vincent's still bleeding out!"

" _What_?!" There was a slam and then more footsteps running, but it was Cid who answered Tifa's call first. He pushed past the two women, pulling a materia out of his pocket. "Goddamn vamp." He muttered at Vincent and proceeded to cast the healing magic. Cloud arrived a few moments later, but seeing that Cid was handling the situation he simply stood by the door and watched. The three watched silently as the restore materia in Cid's hand flashed several times as it healed Vincent's injuries and after several applications, the grizzled pilot lowered his arm and wearily put the materia away again. He stared down at his friend for several silent moments before he turned back to the others.

"Goddamn it! Why didn't anyone check to see if he was still bleeding?!" Cid growled furiously at them, though there was self-loathing on his face as well. "If Shelke hadn't decided someone needed to watch over him he'd have been _fucking dead_ by morning!"

"We assumed he'd be fine." Cloud said softly. "Vincent always heals on his own, he was always the only one we didn't need to worry too much about....."

"Well the rules have obviously goddamn well _changed_ , Spiky!" Cid had clenched his fists, trembling with anger and adrenaline from the close call. "He could've--"

"Enough." Vincent's voice cut in softly, but none the less silencing Cid mid-rant. His eyes looked over at them dully. "Perhaps I was not interested in living, did that not cross your mind?"

Cid turned to him, scathing fury being turned on the friend he'd nearly lost. "You don't get to die until I damn well _say_ so, Vincent!" He spat. "We're gonna track down the son of a bitch and you'll pop his head off yourself, so you better not fucking give up now!"

"......If Shera heard you using that kind of language she would pop _your_ head off, Highwind." Vincent shut his eyes and coughed softly, then he forced himself to roll over and weakly began pushing himself up. With an exasperated sigh, Cid went over to help him and wrinkled his nose when he saw all the blood that had soaked into the mattress. "You're gonna need a whole goddamn change of clothes, Vince."

"Among other things." Vincent gave another, stronger and more phlegmy cough and leaned wearily against Cid. His dull red eyes opened halfway and he looked in the direction of the congregation that was gathering in the doorway. He gave a faint, sardonic smile mostly hidden by his cowl and then reached up shakily with his right hand to begin undoing the buckles holding it in place.

".....Here, I'll help." Cid reached out to assist him, but Vincent's left hand shot up with surprising speed to close the gauntlet tight around Cid's wrist and making the physically older man give a violent start of surprise.

"Don't touch me." Vincent rasped. After a few moments of giving the other man a baleful look, he released him and pushed himself away from Cid to shakily get to his feet and continue pulling the buckles free.

"The hell's gotten into you?!" Cid stood as well, though he didn't attempt to approach him again. Vincent gave no response, but his fingers fumbled on the buckles and he swayed a bit.

"Oh, I've had enough of this....." Tifa strode into the room and around to the far side of the bed, then she grabbed Vincent by his gauntlet arm with one hand and put a hand to his chest with the other to push him back down to sit on the bed he had just vacated. "Now sit there." She told him firmly. "Cloud." She addressed the blond now, though her eyes were focused on Vincent. "Get the extra clothing we have for drunk patrons. There's probably _something_ that can fit Vincent." Cloud went to do as she said, and she frowned at the man she had just decided to take charge of. "As for you, we're going to get you cleaned up and changed whether you like it or not and then you're going to rest in a different room until morning when we do final rites for Lucrecia and _then_ we're going to find a way to track down Genesis and stop him before he hurts anyone else. Understood?"

A weary but sardonic brow rose on Vincent's face and then he brought his right hand up again to finish unbuckling his cloak and let it fall. "I hear you, Tifa." He said softly. "And I do truly appreciate the concern. I would however much rather mourn _alone_ and in _quiet_ without all of this manhandling."

"So you want to go hide in another coffin for another thirty years, Vincent?" Anger tinged Tifa's voice, anger so she wouldn't break down crying in sympathy for the man's pains. "No one was there for you then, but you have friends now and we're not just going to let you hide away from the world."

Vincent stared at her dully and then he looked at his gauntlet and flexed the fingers. He seemed to be contemplating something and Tifa moved away with the pretense of letting him think--rather than because that gauntlet was a potentially deadly weapon.

"They got what they wanted." Vincent said softly. "The Protomateria is in their possession."

"'They'?" Cid spoke up. "There's more than one son of a bitch in on this?"

"Weiss, the leader of Deepground." Vincent flexed his gauntlet again, still staring down at it. "I thought I had killed him, that he would have diffused into Omega.....yet he lives, and he has taken from me the only way to stop him."

"He took the Protomateria.....so you're.....you're gonna lose control of Chaos?" Yuffie asked, her voice soft and worried. She flinched when Vincent responded to the query by giving a bitter bark of a laugh.

"Oh don't worry about that, Yuffie." The older man hissed lowly. "They seem to have taken that too."

"What do you mean?" Tifa frowned deeply and crossed her arms to stave off the growing alarm. "Genesis and Weiss took Chaos as well as the Protomateria? How?"

"Some kind of device.....likely Lucrecia was forced to make it." Vincent twitched. "I am.....mortal now. I still feel the other monsters coiled in my blood, but....things are quiet. Chaos is taken, the Protomateria is taken. If Weiss' goal is the same as before, then he will have his herald and squire to the lofty heavens......likely as not he will infuse one of his soldiers with Chaos to have a loyal killer at his side when he once more takes Omega's form."

Tifa shot a worried look to the others gathered at the door, then licked her lips and looked back at Vincent. "Then.....maybe we know where to start looking."

"Deepground.....yes. Perhaps so." Vincent shut his eyes wearily and seemed to droop. Cloud entered with clothes and set them down on the chair.

"Will you be able to get yourself changed Vincent, or will you need help?" Cloud asked briskly. He wasn't comfortable with the idea of helping a man dress or undress, but if it needed to be done then it needed to be done.

"I will manage." Vincent responded softly and moved to push himself up to his feet again. He wavered briefly but caught himself on the chair and he looked to Tifa. ".....Would it be possible to have my clothes cleaned? If you have a sewing kit I can patch up the holes, but......"

"Of course, Vincent. You can just let me know when you're changed and I'll take your clothes for you to wash them." Inwardly Tifa sighed at doing laundry in the middle of the night, but it wasn't as if they could take the time to go buy him new clothing when they'd be going to the Forgotten City and then making their way--likely as a group--down into Deepground. The last time they had left Vincent to go alone, but the last time he had been in full control of his faculties.

The night turned out to be a long one. Vincent changed into the borrowed clothes and handed his bloodied clothing off to Tifa to be washed, then he took a shower and upon getting his cleaned clothes back insisted on staying up to repair the holes. No one got much rest, but fortunately they were used to that from back when they'd been tracking Sephiroth all over the planet. When dawn finally broke, it was to a lot of brewing coffee and three children that really didn't want to be up before noon but would be going to school none the less. Tifa saw them off and then the attention of everyone turned to Vincent, who was drinking coffee just as much as the rest of them. He was dressed back into his patched up clothing with his cloak hanging over the chair he was sitting in.

"Okay...." Cloud spoke up after a few moments of the expectant silence. "Weiss and Genesis have the Protomateria and Chaos. I know you want to put Lucrecia to rest Vincent, but if they're in Deepground then....shouldn't we be getting down there first?"

"You're our leader." Vincent responded in a maddeningly calm tone, as if nothing had changed in his life. "It's up to you to make the decisions."

Cloud's eyebrow twitched. He hadn't had to lead anyone for four years and now suddenly it was all being dumped in his lap again. He hadn't even wanted to be the leader the _last_ time. "We didn't know Lucrecia." Cloud responded through teeth he was trying not to grit. He was too tired for this crap. "If taking the time to fly to the Forgotten City to put her to rest first is what it will take to get you in the right frame of mind, then that's what we'll do. But if it can wait, then I think we should go to Deepground first and see if we can't stop this before things go any further."

Vincent just looked at him, and then took a sip of his coffee. It was fairly clear that he didn't intend to even give a clue at what he really wanted and it was making Cloud want to throttle him.

"There's something about this that really bugs me...." Zack spoke up. He tapped the table lightly with his knuckles, looking down at it. "Genesis gives a really vague clue, leaves it up to me to figure it out and remember it was what he'd said to Angeal that time. If they.....well, why make it so vague? Why leave it to chance?"

Tifa blinked, and then she frowned. ".....You're right, that _was_ a really vague clue. We jumped at it because it was at least a direction to go in, but.....why _was_ it so vague? It could have meant anything."

Zack frowned really hard, staring at the table intently like it might give him the answers he sought. After a few moments, he looked up at Cloud and sighed heavily. "Maybe it has a double meaning.....or maybe he was hoping I _wouldn't_ figure it out."

"Now you're really grasping at straws." Cloud frowned back at him. "But what double meaning could there be?"

"I donno." Zack tapped his fingers on the table. "I read Loveless while I was on forced vacation in Costa del Sol way back and.....well, okay. Long story short, there's supposed to be deeper meanings in everything. That's all...." He sighed. "I guess it doesn't matter in the long run, we've just gotta stop'm."

"Now you're talkin'!" Cid stood up from where he'd been sitting and slammed his mug down with a bang that made the others jump. "Now finish up your goddamn drinks and let's get started. We'll put Lucrecia to rest with Aerith and then we'll haul on up to Midgar and get our asses into that Deepground place. We'll finish this once and for all!"

"If we're right about them being there...." Cloud said softly, though he was glad Cid had made the decision for him. The others swigged back their drinks--Yuffie making various faces as she did so--and stood to head out. Cloud initially thought he'd be shuttling everyone to the airship again, and so the surprise that greeted him nearly made him stop and block the doorway.

Waiting for them were two WRO vehicles. The drivers were leaning against the sides, though they quickly came to attention when Cloud and the others stepped outside.

"Commissioner Reeve ordered us to wait here in order to convey you to your airship, sir." The driver standing by the lead vehicle addressed Cloud.

"Did he? Well that's mighty goddamn nice of him." Cid reached up to touch the cigarette he had tucked behind his ear briefly and then looked around at his feet. "Where are ya, you little bastard?"

"Ae'm right here." Cait stepped around and through people's legs to get outside. He looked up at Cid. "Why do yae look so sour? Ae did yae a favor!"

"Don't like goddamn surprises, Cait." Cid reached down to pick up the mechanical cat by the back of the neck, making him squawk indignantly and flail. Ignoring the cursing and promises of harm if he wasn't put down immediately, Cid looked around at the others.

"Well?" He said, finally settling on Cloud. "I ain't gonna do your goddamn job for ya, Spiky."

Cloud gave a heavy sigh, though he followed it by one of his rare smiles. "Alright, everyone." He said. "Let's get going." He motioned them toward the vehicles, though he himself headed for his bike again. Zack looked between the safety of the enclosed vehicles and then toward the risky venture that seemed to be Cloud's driving, and then he followed Cloud. Not long after, the convoy set out for the Squall with Cloud's motorcycle following the WRO.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cloud's [swords](http://i48.tinypic.com/dlkl51.jpg).
> 
> Crossposted to [DeviantArt](http://naosuloff.deviantart.com/gallery/34469925) and [FF.net](http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5454968/5/The_Planets_Enemy).


	6. Turks and Revelations

Rufus Shinra was seated at a small desk in his room at home, his laptop perched quite happily in the middle of it. He however, was decidedly _not_ happy.

He scowled at the numbers on his screen. It wasn't Shinra's finances, for though they were far down from the previous years, it was all within expected parameters as the world moved away from mako energy to the more planet friendly ways of water, air and oil offered by Shinra's replacement; Khymera Enviro. No, the numbers he was glowering at now had to do with a Midgar reactor, specifically Reactor 0, the reactor that powered the late President's dirty little secret, Deepground. Once Rufus had thought it had only been the power source for the Shinra building, but recent events had shown him the error of that. He'd had it remotely shut down after the Omega Event, but now here it was, powered up again and sucking up the Lifestream once more.

He tapped his fingers on the desk and scowled more. What did this mean? Was it a mere glitch in the system, or was there more going on? Clicking his mouse and typing soon brought up a profile, woefully outdated and Rufus' eyes scanned over it briefly.

Vincent Valentine. Reeve had told Rufus he was the one who had cleaned Deepground out. A former Turk from back in the early days of the Jenova project, before Rufus had been born. According to his file, he should have been about sixty years old. Also according to his file, he had died thirty three years before in a lab accident protecting his charge, Lucrecia Crescent. Rufus smiled coldly. According to Cloud Strife's profile, _he_ had died nine years ago in a reactor incident right along with Zack Fair and Sephiroth, yet Cloud had shown up five years after his supposed death and so had Sephiroth. Angeal Hewley, Genesis Rhapsodos.....all people who had been proven alive after their announced deaths. Were they all cover ups by his father, or was there something about the Jenova cells the majority of them had which kept them coming back again and again?

This line of thought brought him back to the source of it. Vincent. Reeve hadn't given him many details, except that Hojo had experimented on the man and Vincent was apparently stuck at the age he'd been when he'd 'died'. And then that man had supposedly single-handedly wiped out 90% of Deepground's population. A population of super-SOLDIER's--according to Scarlet's reports that Reeve had given him--powered up to near Sephiroth strength. Even if that wasn't true.....one man against an army.....

Rufus sighed heavily. He didn't know about the man, and he didn't know if his reactor was glitching or the dead had risen again. He could simply shut it down and see if it re-activated again, but if it did he'd be obligated to send technicians down there to look into it and if people--or even monsters--were alive down there he'd just be sending his people to needless deaths.

He put a hand to his face and laughed softly. _When I first got the company from my old man's cold, dead hands I'd planned to rule the world with fear. Who would have thought one near-death experience and a--at the time--terminal illness would do so much to change me?_

Well, first things first. He straightened up and closed Vincent's file to bring the reactor readouts back up, then he proceeded to set the codes in to shut it down.

The alarm that blared out of his laptop's speakers was so sudden and loud it nearly caused him to fall out of his chair. Upon recovering his wits, he straightened up and scowled at his machine and the bright red, flashing 'ACCESS DENIED' in the middle of its screen. Someone had changed his access codes. Well, that answered one question at least.

He reached for his cellphone, but then paused. Who exactly did he intend to call? His Turks were good, but hardly strong enough to take on SOLDIERs themselves very easily and while he'd had SOLDIERs under his command once he'd since handed their employment over to Khymera Enviro. Besides, they were all Second and Third classes.

His hand hovered over the cellphone. There was only one answer really, and if Deepground was preparing to rise up again then it was a problem that would likely effect the planet. His hand closed on the phone and he brought it over to flip it open and call a number.

\------------------------------------------------------------

Cloud didn't want to be here.

It wasn't the memories that made his steps heavy as he walked along behind the others into the Forgotten Capital, though they certainly didn't help. He had Sephiroth's spirit occupying his body, what right did he have to be there when it was that man who had taken Aerith from them?

Several times he considered turning back, but he knew if he did Tifa would think he was turning away from the memories and he'd get a lecture he really didn't deserve this time. Were they not all in pain from memories, anyway? Vincent carried the double burden of Aerith's death and now the death of the woman he cradled in his arms now, walking ahead and apart from the rest of his friends. What was Cloud's pain compared to that? That was likely what Tifa would say to him, anyway. The blond sighed softly and then looked to Zack when the raven-haired man dropped back to walk beside him.

"I know this is a funeral," Zack intoned softly. "but you look like death yourself. What's on your mind?"

"Don't you mean, what's in it?" Cloud sighed a quiet but heavy sigh. "He killed her, Zack. She had gone to this place to summon Holy and he tried to....." He trailed off and shook his head. "He killed her. He killed her when he couldn't make me do it. It doesn't feel right being here....given that."

 _"Imbecile."_ Sephiroth's tone was acid. _"It's a wonder your brain hasn't leaked out your ears."_

 _"Back to that, are you?"_ Cloud thought at him. He was aware Zack was saying something, but he couldn't listen to both at the same time. _"I thought you were done with the petty sniping."_

 _"I didn't kill the woman, you ignorant fool. I was waiting in the Northern Crater for Mother to bring me the black materia. Considering"_ Sephiroth's tone became a cold purr. _"that_ you _were the one to give it to me, I would have thought you'd remember that."_

Zack had commented on Cloud's complexion being pale before, but now he seemed to lose what color was left and he stopped entirely as he became light-headed. Zack stopped beside him and was watching him in concern, but Cloud didn't seem to remember he was there.

_"So that whole time, when we thought we were fighting you...."_

_"That's right. It was Mother all along."_

_"She's not your mother, and you know it!"_ Suddenly Cloud was angry and he straightened up to look toward Vincent far ahead. _"Lucrecia is, and she would have loved you if she--"_ Pain spiked through his head, making him gasp and his legs collapse under him. Zack hastily caught and supported him.

"Cloud?" He intoned with concern.

Cloud couldn't respond, hadn't even heard Zack's query. It was like what Sephiroth had done to him in the manor basement. All he knew was the agony, the sound of the blood rushing though his head and filling his eyes. It felt like his brain was swelling and trying to escape his head and he let out an involuntary groan.

The others heard Cloud's noise of pain and stopped. Vincent looked annoyed at the interruption, but the others hurried back to surround Cloud and Zack.

"What happened?" Tifa asked, frowning in concern at the blond.

"I'm not sure." Zack responded honestly. "We were talking, and then he got quiet.....and now this." It had to do with Sephiroth, he bet. Maybe having two souls in one body was bad for the body or something.

Tifa grabbed Cloud's face in her hands to hold him still as he began to twitch and thrash a bit in an attempt to escape from the pain as he'd done before. "Cloud!" She yelled, even though yelling didn't seem to be quite the best course of action then. "Cloud, you need to focus! Tell us what's wrong!"

"I'm....it's....." Slowly the blond stilled again as the pain ebbed away once more. He was grateful these attacks were brief, but now Sephiroth had done it in front of others. What were they going to think? What was he going to tell them? He felt himself being lowered into a sit and he sagged there, panting. Tifa moved down with him, still holding his face.

"Cloud?" She said again with concern, and then gasped when Cloud opened bloodshot eyes to look at her through the fog of blood.

"I'm okay now." He said shakily and slowly reached up to locate Tifa's wrists and pull her hands away from his face. "Not sure what happened," He lied then. "but I'll be just fine."

"That was a hell of a goddamn show there, Spiky." Cid spoke up, planting his hands on his hips. "You sure you don't know what the hell it was about? You look like crap."

"Really, I'll be fine." Cloud let go of Tifa and moved shakily to stand, Zack there immediately to help him get back to his feet. "I'll look into it if you're all so worried, but I'm sure it's something manageable."

"Is it Geostigma again?" Yuffie piped up, hopping over and pushing Cloud's hair out of the way to look for ash spots.

"No, it's not Geostigma!" Cloud batted her hands away. "Trust me, I'd seen Denzel's attacks and they weren't like that anyway. I'm _fine_!"

"But--"

"We'll talk about it later." Zack spoke up firmly. He gave Cloud a look, then looked over at Vincent. "We have things we need to get done first."

"Yeah. Let's do what we came here to do." Cloud's eyes were clearing again and he turned his head to look at his friends with an irritated look. After a few seconds, they turned away again and the procession continued on toward their destination.

Reaching the large conchshell, everyone paused to look at it. Vincent gave a low growl, remembering seeing Sephiroth's remnants defiling the area, but the rest were just quiet. After a few moments, Vincent moved again, stepping around the pool to face it on the conch side. The others moved to follow him, but Zack and Cloud stayed where they were.

"So.....this is where it happened, huh?" Zack said softly, putting his hands on his hips and looking over at the entrance to the conch near where Vincent stood.

"Yes Zack, this is where it happened." Cloud rubbed his eyes gingerly. "I don't know how you can be so casual about that....."

"Casual?" Zack shook his head slightly. "We died, but we died for good reasons. She doesn't regret anything, so why would I be upset when I wasn't even here?" He looked at his blond friend from the corner of his eyes. "You hang on to things a little hard, Cloud. Are you blaming yourself for my death too?"

".......No." Cloud said softly. He looked at the conch himself. "I'm just sorry I forgot you for so long."

"..........Oh come _on_ , man!" Zack gave his friend a bit of an exasperated look. "Every time we met up, I'd forget who you were!" He shook his head. "Come on. Your friend'll probably want you to be there."

"Yeah, you're right." Cloud moved to head on over and join the others. _He_ did _always forget who I was, didn't he? Considering him and I had some of the most memorable hair in Shinra....what's up with that anyway?_ Cloud frowned a bit. _Were we actually as close as I'm thinking we were? .......I don't remember._

"We didn't know Lucrecia." Tifa began to speak as Cloud came to stand beside her. "We only know about her from things you've told us, but regardless....we're here for you, Vincent."

"I appreciate that." Vincent intoned softly. He moved forward to step into the water, hissing softly at its cold temperature. He walked forward until he reached the drop off, the same place where Cloud had committed Aerith's body to rest. With Lucrecia's body buoyed by the water, Vincent was able to free an arm from supporting her to pull her long hair ribbon out of his pocket. He brought it to his lips, closing his eyes for several seconds before he opened them again and took Lucrecia's limp hand to loosely tie the ribbon around. Then he released her completely.

She sank slower than Aerith had, but still she sank. The long ribbon waving lazily as her body was taken to its watery rest. Vincent watched her decent for several moments, then he brought his right hand out of the water in a quick motion to splash some water on his face. He shook his head out and then turned to return to land once more, whereupon he stepped away from his friends and gave himself a bit of a shake. Everyone was quiet, watching Vincent with varying levels of concern and partially concealed sympathy. The silence was soon broken however by the sound of a phone.

"Huh?" Cloud snapped out of his thoughts and fumbled for his cell. He checked the caller ID and frowned. "Unknown number." He told his friends with slight annoyance in his tone. "Must be a telemarketer." He debated briefly just letting it go to voice mail, but instead with a sigh he flipped it open and pressed the button to answer it and then bring it to his ear. Let the caller speak first, he had no intention of talking to some solicitor.

"Cloud?"

The blond muttered a soft curse under his breath and hit the speakerphone button. "What do you want, Rufus? And how did you get this number?"

"There is a problem with Mako Reactor Zero." Rufus responded calmly, ignoring Cloud's second question completely. "Perhaps you and your friends--"

"I don't work for you, Shinra." Cloud cut him off harshly. "Whatever issue you're having with your reactors, you can deal with it."

"Cloud." Vincent spoke up. He stepped over to the others, squeezing out his cloak. "Reactor 0 is the one in Deepground."

"Exactly." Rufus confirmed. "And it's recently been activated again. When I tried to shut it down remotely, I found I've been locked out. Clearly someone or someones are still alive down there. Your friend didn't do a very good cleanup job."

Cloud rolled his eyes expressively for the others benefit. "We're already going to be looking into that, but for our own benefit and not yours. We don't work for you."

"Ah, but you're a delivery man now, aren't you? That must not pay very much."

"Get to the point, Rufus. We're already going to check into Deepground, so what do you want?"

"I want to send the Turks with you. And as I'm fully aware, you aren't very fond of them. Therefore, I'm offering you money to put up with them."

Cloud glanced at Zack, who blinked cluelessly at him. ".....No deal. We'll take care of this ourselves, you've done more than enough damage." He shut his phone and put it back in his pocket.

"Cloud!" Tifa put her hand on his arm. "What's gotten into you suddenly? You don't just turn down something like that!"

"This isn't AVALANCHE anymore." Cloud gently pushed her away, then paced away from them and the water. "I'm not a merc, I'm a delivery guy. Besides, we're all under Reeve's payroll now." He turned back to look at them, his eyes seeking out Cait. "We work for the WRO."

"Aye, that yae do." Cait affirmed with a tilt of his head. "But if mae memory serves me--and it rightly does--ae haven't seen yae this ornery since we first were getting tae know yae." He swished his tail. "What's with the bee in yaer bonnet, lad? Is it just because of Rufus?"

"........." Cloud turned away again and scowled at the conch. _I've got plenty of reasons. One of the biggest is....I don't want the Turks trying to take Zack._ "Aerith died here." He said instead. "The memories hurt....we shouldn't linger anyway, we have to get on to Deepground." He took a deep breath and turned back to his friends again. "Vincent, how are you feeling? Up to leading the assault down there since you already know the layout?"

Vincent gave him an unreadable stare for several moments, then he nodded. "I'll lead the way." He said, and turned with likely intentions of returning to the airship. The others moved to follow him, Tifa giving Cloud a light pat on the arm.

"AVALANCHE....?" Zack asked softly.

"......It's.....it's a long story, Zack." Cloud turned away from his friend and the water to approach the conch, now as reluctant to leave Aerith's resting place as he'd been to arrive there. He reached up to touch the wall of it and try and draw emotional support from it, only for a force to throw him violently backwards. He splashed into the water, but quickly came back up sputtering and gasping from the sudden coldness.

"Cloud!" He heard his friends calling to him. He was about to call back and reassure them that he was alright when he heard something that made his blood freeze.

"Sephiroth!" More than one voice cried out, anger and surprise mingling. The blond sank down into the icy waters again, trembling from more than just the temperature.

The force that had thrown him into the water seemed to have knocked his unwelcome guest out as well and Sephiroth stood there in front of the conch, blue energy crackling around him. If not for his obviously transparent state, his friends likely would have already launched an attack against him. Zack himself had backed up almost to the water and was standing near Cloud's location.

Slowly Sephiroth turned his head, his eyes the brightest thing next to the energy. With a curl of his lip and an irritated growl, he took a very determined step away from the conch. The energy that had apparently been hurting him on some level ceased and he gave himself a shake, then took a second look around, acknowledging each of Cloud's tense friends in turn with a contemptuous smile.

 _"Poor little lambs, thinking yourself wolves."_ His voice did not carry well in the air and he seemed to have to speak much louder than normal to make sure they heard him. _"What will you do now, I wonder...."_ His eyes looked to Zack, then to Cloud before flickering back to the others. _"Come here, Cloud."_

"L-Like h-h-hell!" Cloud chattered defiantly back at him. This wasn't the kind of water to be in for long periods of time.

There was the sound of running and then feet soared over Cloud's head as Tifa cleared the pool in one leap to stand beside Zack in front of Cloud. "You stay the hell away from him!"

Sephiroth looked amused, watching as the others approached as well and his gaze flickered around between the ones right in front of him and the ones warily approaching. He shook his head and began to chuckle. _"What an interesting--"_

"You won't think this is funny for long." Zack interrupted him. He lifted his chin. "Aerith knows you're here now and how impressed do you think she is, Sephiroth? Using those children, hurting Cloud....she takes that stuff kind of personal."

 _"Hurting Cloud....? Oh yes, I see what you mean."_ If not for the slight twitching of his eye, Sephiroth would seem unphased by the threat. He gave an open-handed shrug.

"This explains it." Vincent intoned lowly, hand resting on Cerberus. "Since Cloud showed up again after his absence, his scent had changed. Now I finally understand why." He stopped, his eyes focused on Sephiroth even though his words were directed behind himself. "How long did you intend to keep us in the dark about this possession, Cloud? How long did you plan to leave us in ignorance of the enemy residing within you?"

".......What?" Tifa's voice was faint and her eyes flickered to Vincent, horror dawning on her features. Yuffie looked much the same, though Cid and Cait remained silent and stoic. "Sephiroth has been....?"

"Y-Yes...." Cloud rubbed his arms, wishing he could get out of the water but feeling that Sephiroth couldn't possess him so long as he remained in it. "I'm s-sorry ev-everyone...."

"It's not your fault, Cloud." Tifa was quick to jump to his defense.

 _"Oh, but it_ is _."_ Sephiroth smoothly corrected her. _"His own cowardice has been holding him back. Amusing....you were willing to admit when I had a hold of you_ before _."_

"Sh-Shut up!" Cloud shivered violently and grasped his arms firmly. By Ramuh it was cold!

Tifa grit her teeth, fists clenching at her sides. "Go away, Sephiroth."

_"Would that I could, little orphan. He begged for mercy, you know. Your father."_

"BASTARD!" Tifa made to lunge at him, but Zack threw an arm up to hold her back.

"Time's up." He said grimly.

Cloud closed his eyes as he felt warmth encircle him, like a hug from a dryer-warmed blanket. The feeling remained, even as the temperature of the water began to make itself known again and he knew exactly what had happened. She had come, and he wouldn't need to worry any more.

The form that interposed herself between Sephiroth and Cloud now seemed small with Zack and Vincent nearby, for she was only five foot three. The presence she brought with herself however, made things so much more and everyone but Sephiroth smiled when they saw her.

"Aerith...." Tifa intoned softly. Though she hadn't been a powerful fighter in life and the two women had vied for Cloud's affections, her last act in the living world had endeared her in Tifa's heart forever.

Aerith clasped her hands in front of herself, smiling serenely to all of her friends. This place, the last Cetra city and the place of her death, was her foci. She was at her strongest here and while Sephiroth was clearly a ghost, she almost looked solid enough to touch. Her attention turned to Sephiroth then, and her smile faded a bit.

 _"You"_ She said. _"have no place here."_

Sephiroth looked unimpressed. _"Yet you know_ why _I'm here."_

Aerith nodded slightly. _"The Planet doesn't welcome you. You can't pass beyond."_

A curl of a lip was his response, but Aerith smiled lightly back to him.

 _"You'll have to find the answer for yourself, Sephiroth. But rest assured....she will take you when you are ready."_ There was no malice in her tone, she was simply stating. It was fairly clear that even though she had every reason to hate him, she didn't.

Sephiroth however, did not share this lack of animosity and though he said nothing in response to Aerith, the hatred was plain as day on his face.

Aerith gave a soft sigh and turned away from him to face the others. _"I'm sorry--and I'm especially sorry to you, Cloud. You'll have to put up with him for a little longer."_

"What?! Are you out of your _mind_ , Aerith?!" Cid looked between her and Sephiroth. "That goddamn _lunatic_ has been camping in Cloud's head and you're saying to _leave_ him there?!"

Her soft green eyes turned on the grizzled older man and she nodded. _"He deserves a chance to redeem himself."_

"After everything he's done?!" Cid couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Everyone deserves a chance to redeem themselves." Zack spoke up, though softly.

"No." Tifa shook her head. "Not him." She glared at Sephiroth sideways. "Not that monster."

Zack twitched and turned towards her, but before he could say whatever he was planning, Vincent interjected.

"As much as I seem to be with the minority.....I agree with Aerith." Several sets of incredulous eyes turned to Vincent. "When we followed Cloud before, Sephiroth was puppeting him and we followed him with full knowledge of that.....what has changed? The way I see it, we have come somewhat in a circle....except this time, we know exactly where Sephiroth is."

"Don't I....get a say in this.....?" Finally, Cloud pulled himself out of the pool and began squeezing out what he could of his clothes. "Don't I get a choice?"

 _"Why of_ course _you do, puppet."_ Sephiroth spoke sarcastically, even though his eyes were on the others and not Cloud. _"You could always just kill yourself."_

"Sorry." Cloud continued to squeeze out his clothes. "I'm not much in the habit of suicide, especially when you're the one trying to tell me to do it. Vincent's right. You can't make me do anything I don't really want to do....and if the alternative is Zack, then I'll take the burden myself.....I just wish I could have had the choice."

 _"But you already made it, Cloud."_ Aerith smiled fondly to him. _"You've always been stronger than you thought you were."_

"I'm done....with dilly dallying." Cloud straightened up and looked at Sephiroth. "I'm done being the coward, done being afraid of you. Come on then." His eyes shifted to Aerith briefly. "I don't understand why you want him to redeem himself, Aerith....but for you I'm willing to try at this."

Aerith smiled warmly to him, and then she turned her gaze to Zack and smiled just a bit more. _"Take good care of him."_

Zack put a hand to his chest. "On my honor." He said back and then smiled back to her, though his expression was a bit sad. They all watched as she faded from view and was gone.

 _"Tch...."_ Sephiroth too vanished and a few seconds later Cloud gave a shudder as his presence settled into his mind again.

"Shit...." Cid muttered. He spat to the side. "I don't like this one goddamn bit."

Tifa gave a heavy sigh and then made a point of reaching out and putting a hand on Cloud's shoulder. "I trust Aerith." She said and looked around at the others. "If....she says give Sephiroth another chance.....then I'm willing to try."

"Aye..." Cait intoned softly and Cid gave a grunt and nod. Yuffie looked pale as a ghost, but she managed a jerky nod of her own.

"Well then!" Zack said. "Let's head back to the ship and get Cloud dried off before he catches a cold or something."

"Yeah. Good idea." Tifa patted Cloud's shoulder and stepped away to lead the way off. The others were almost too eager to follow her for the most part, save for Vincent, Zack and of course, Cloud.

".....Sorry I've been such a coward about this." Cloud spoke up after a few moments, staring down at the ground as he trailed along with the two who chose to stick close to him. When had he become such a yellow chocobo that he had been willing to endanger his friends like this?

Zack looked at him sideways and arched a brow. "Who's a coward?" The taller man put his arms behind his head as they walked. "So you were afraid, who wouldn't be with someone they've learned to think of as a bad guy sitting in their head? Heh. Heck, even _I_ was a little intimidated by Sephiroth." He looked ahead of himself again. "But that's just between us, hey? Wouldn't want him thinking Zackary Fair's gonna fall to his knees in worship of great General Sephiroth just because of his shiny hair or something."

Cloud couldn't help himself and had to cover his mouth to fight back a laugh. "That's horrible...."

"Is not. I got roped into joining the Silver Elite, you know. One of the announcements had something to do with an entire bottle of shampoo and conditioner every time he washed his hair." Zack dropped his arms. "Never did get around to asking him about that, though....I guess he could tell us all about it now. Sooo....." He turned to walk backwards and look at Cloud. "ask him!"

"Uh....no." Cloud was still a bit amused, but he fought down the smile to try and scowl at his friend. "And you're going to trip." He sighed and shook his head, the amusement finally draining out of him. "Thanks for trying, Zack.....but this really isn't a laughing matter. You only saw him burn Nibelheim.....but through Jenova or not, he did more than just that.....I trust Aerith too...but this seems insane.....and he keeps trying to make me have an aneurysm or something....."

"Is that what your earlier fit was about?" Vincent asked.

"Mm....I tried to tell him Lucrecia was his mother, not Jenova. He doesn't like hearing that."

"......Understandable, I suppose." Vincent twitched the edge of his cloak and then fell silent. After a few moments Zack stopped walking backwards to walk beside Cloud.

"Don't worry about the others, buddy. They're your friends, they'll come around. Just give them a few to get used to this idea."

"Yeah....I know. Well....you wanted me to tell them, and I guess in a way I have.....and they seem to have taken it fairly well over all....."

"Mm hmm!" Zack slapped him on the shoulder hard enough to make him stumble. "So don't worry! Everything will be fine!"

"Heh....thanks Zack." Cloud gave a soft sigh and fell to brooding anyway and Zack left him to it. They remained silent as they boarded the Squall and joined the others on the main deck.

\------------------------------------------------------------

Costa del Sol. The perfect vacation spot. The perfect place to see really attractive women wearing very little.

Perfect if he wasn't on assignment. Reno swiped his sweaty bangs out of his face and panted at Rude, who simply arched a brow at him. Both men had already stripped off their suits and their undershirts were clinging to them.

"The _hell_ is Tseng thinking?!" Reno hissed at his partner. "There's _no goddamn way_ the boss would be here! It's too damn likely he'd get found! Frig...." He tripped and had to flail to right himself. He then continued to mutter sourly under his breath afterward, beginning to trail behind Rude.

"Besides!" He continued ranting. "We stick out like sore thumbs here! Even if the boss _was_ here, he would've made tracks or something. That he never came back--"

"Your phone is vibrating." Rude cut him off calmly.

"Huh? Oh, it is." Reno pushed his suit--which he'd tied around his waist--out of the way and fumbled in his pants pocket for a few moments, then pulled his phone out of his pocket and flipped it open. "Yah?"

"Reno." Tseng's voice came through clearly. "Head back to the helicopter. We have orders to head to Edge and locate Cloud and his team. We're to join them in infiltrating Deepground, 'whether they like it or not'."

Reno grimaced and stopped walking, Rude stopping by him and watching his expression. ".....Okay, Director." The redhead said softly after a few moments. He shut his phone and dropped it back into his pocket, then turned to head back in the direction of the helicopter. He was glad to be leaving the oppressive 100 degree heat, but as he walked the color began to drain from his flushed face.

Deepground was one of those nightmares. One of many things Shinra senior had funded that broke any sense of humanity you might have imagined about the man. He'd employed monsters like Hojo and Hollander, and he'd created places like Deepground and people like the Tsviets. Rufus had been less than impressed to discover that his Turks already knew about the place when he had only recently found out about it, and Reno was almost certain that sending them there was some kind of twisted punishment. This was going to end badly, he just knew it.

\------------------------------------------------------------

Again Reeve had helpfully sent WRO vehicles out to ferry everyone from the airship. The plan was still being formulated, but Vincent had told them on the flight back that the most likely place he expected Weiss to be was where he'd first encountered him--the core of Reactor 0. Yuffie had found a shortcut into the place before and Vincent has asked her to show them how. They were planning to just drop by the bar to stock up on materia from Cloud's chest, check on the children who would be home from school about then, likely leave Cait and then head on into Midgar proper.

Cloud, who was leading the convoy, stopped his motorcycle so fast he and Zack almost got unseated. There were black cars parked in front of Seventh Heaven with the Shinra logo painted on the sides.....

"That son of a bitch!" Cloud growled. He gunned the engine again--ignoring a yelp from Zack--and tore around to the side, where he parked and leapt off his bike with such sudden force he had to use the wall of the building beside the bar to bounce off of. He reached back for Merciless as he stalked for the entrance, but then Zack grabbed his sword arm and yanked him so he spun around to face him.

"What the hell, Cloud?!" Zack hissed at him, his eyes bright in worry. "I know you didn't want the Turks involved in this, but aren't you overreacting a little?!"

Cloud yanked his arm free. "The Turks are _inside_ the bar _with Marlene and Denzel_!" His voice vibrated with rage and once more he turned to go. "Stay here. We'll rout the vermin." But even as he stalked once more for the door, he wondered why he was so angry. Part of it came from fear--fear of them around the children, and fear of what they'd do if they discovered Zack--but that couldn't be all there was to it and he paused midstep. He excused it by pretending it was to let Tifa go ahead of him, but while she darted past him his thoughts turned inward.

 _"Is this your doing?"_ He questioned Sephiroth.

 _"So eager to place blame on anyone but yourself, aren't you Cloud?"_ Sephiroth responded, voice smooth as silk and as poisonous as a black mamba. _"No, it's not me. I'm simply content to watch the show, for the moment. Don't let me down now, puppet."_

Cloud's lip twitched in a brief snarl, but then he headed for the bar entrance anyway. It wasn't obedience, he wanted to throw them all out on their asses anyway. He stepped in and sided up to Tifa. The woman didn't look impressed either, but Cloud's eyes were all but aflame as the mako in his blood reacted to his emotions.

The majority of the Turks were seated at the bar. They didn't seem to have touched any of the taps except the one that dispensed water however. Rude was sitting with Marlene and Denzel at the farthest table from the door and seemed to have been helping the children with their homework before Tifa had stalked in on the scene. The main focus of her and now Cloud's attention however was the man in white sitting with the Turks.

"Rufus." Cloud spoke at last, his tone just short of flammable. "You just can't take no for an answer, can you?"

"I'm sorry, Cloud." Denzel spoke up, wincing a bit as if his guardian's anger was directed at him.

"Not in this case, no." Rufus spoke next. "And it was a bit tricky to convince your young ward to let us in if that's any comfort, so don't blame either of them."

".......We're not angry at either of you." Tifa told Marlene and Denzel, forcing her expression to be soft when she looked at them as Marlene looked about to cry. Rude was also the only Turk she would trust with the children, so she had no real reason to be angry at him either. When her own attention turned back to Rufus however, her expression just about matched Cloud's. " _You_ however, are trespassing. The bar is closed."

The door opened behind them and the attention of Rufus and the Turks briefly shifted in that direction, but then Rufus sighed and spread his hands in a slight sitting bow. "And you intend to break into _my_ property in turn." He responded calmly in the face of the anger and annoyance being directed at him. "If you really insist, then I won't send my Turks with your group....but I doubt you can afford it when I decide to sue you."

"Sue us?!" Cid's voice exploded from behind his friends. "For cleaning up _your_ goddamn mess?! You should be _thanking_ us, blondie!"

Rufus' lips quirked up in a smile, even as the two Turks that the others didn't know stiffened as if readying to attack. "Deepground was my unlamented father's creation, not mine. However, I concede that I have to pay for his actions." He tapped his fingers on his leg. "That being so, there is still the fact that Valentine missed the kill."

"I plan to make up for that." Vincent's voice came low and growly, causing both Cloud and Tifa to stiffen in instinctive reaction, as that tone used to mean he was getting close to transforming.

"I'm sure you do, and I have no intention of keeping you. However, if you plan to go to Deepground, I _respectfully_ request you take at least a couple of my Turks with you." He looked at Cloud, who was finally getting a handle on his emotions. "Don't fight me on this Cloud, if you please. We aren't enemies any longer."

"No...?" Cloud's eye twitched and he shook his head. "Fine....you mentioned gil when you called earlier. I want 50,000."

"That's quite the hefty fee."

"You can afford it, I'm sure."

"Mr. President." Tseng spoke up smoothly. "Before this goes any further, I'd like to have something explained."

"Go ahead, Tseng."

"Thank you." Tseng rose to his feet and focused his attention on something behind Cloud.

Cloud went cold, and his eyes unconsciously widened slightly, pupils dilating. _Oh by Ifrit, no...._

"Zackary Liam Fair." Tseng reached into his suit and pulled out a touchpad. "It was reported that you had been killed in action years ago."

"Yeah" Zack responded. "well, I got better. Good call on my middle name, by the way. Not many people knew it outside Gongaga."

Tseng quirked a brow at him. "Got better, hm?" He tapped a few times on the touchpad. "Kindly explain just how you recovered from this." And he turned the device in their direction.

"Goddamn...." Cid swore quietly. Vincent frowned faintly and glanced at Yuffie, who's hands had flown up to cover her mouth, eyes going wide. Tifa had a similar reaction, hand covering her mouth, Cloud flinched and half turned away and Zack himself clenched his fists at his sides.

"Blimy...." Cait muttered and curled his tail around to hold it in both hands.

The photo Tseng was showing them was high quality and showed Zack, riddled with bullet wounds, lying on the bare cliff overlooking Midgar where he'd died.

"They took _pictures_?!" Zack hissed at last.

"The army was reportedly quite proud of themselves for managing to take down a SOLDIER First Class." Tseng's voice was calm and he tucked the touchpad away again. "Though the reports also said you'd managed to take out about a hundred infantry and footmen before they were able to take you down. Now then. How did you survive when--by my count--you had over fifty bullet wounds perforating your body?"

Zack stepped forward, putting a slightly shaking hand down hard on Cloud's shoulder and gripping tight enough to make the blond wince. "Before I answer you, tell me this. What did the reports say about Cloud? Why did they leave him alone?"

Tseng thought for a moment. "He was reportedly mako poisoned and it was deemed that he would die on his own. My personal take on it was that he was spared because he'd been one of them."

"Kids...." Tifa's voice shook a little as she spoke. "Go upstairs." Cloud had never given them specifics as to _how_ Zack had died and the reality of it, the _coldness_ of it....it took her off balance. The children, worried at Tifa's tone as well as how the adults had reacted to whatever Tseng had shown them, hastened to obey and hurry upstairs.

"Now then." Tseng spoke again once the children had left. "How did you survive?"

"Hojo had experimented on us. Isn't that an obvious enough answer right there?"

"Hm....almost plausible." Tseng tapped his chin thoughtfully. "However, you were wounded in combat against our objective in Modeoheim. On the face."

"His name was _Angeal_ , and yes." Zack was starting to understand why Cloud had wanted him to stay by the bike. "It healed. Like I said, we were experimented on."

"Zack." Tseng said with a soft sigh. "You can't fool a Turk that easily. Now, this is a very fine story, but let's hear the _truth_. I doubt we have time for all of this runaround."

"Aerith." Cloud blurted. He elbowed Zack to force him to let go and shook out his arm, keeping his eyes on Tseng the whole time. "Aerith brought him back."

"......How did she do that?"

"She's a Cetra, you think death could stop her?"

"Cloud." Zack's voice was low, but his tone was warning and the blond looked back at his taller friend. Zack gave the slightest shake of his head, then looked at Tseng. "Yes. Aerith brought me back. Hojo had made clones of some people, me included. She found out about mine--mako is still part of the Lifestream, even when taken from it--and decided to shove me into it. Give me another chance."

Tseng's expression flickered just slightly and then he frowned. "You're still leaving something out, Fair....but I'll let that rest for now." He looked back at Rufus, nodded slightly and sat down again.

"Now then" Rufus smoothly picked up when he'd left off. "5,000 gil, you said?"

" _50_ ,000 Shinra, and not a gil less. You're welcome to give 5,000 upfront now, though."

"6,000. Total."

Cloud gave a nasty smile. "I'm not haggling, Rufus. I am telling you how much gil it will take for me to put up with your Turks, and overlook the fact that you essentially broke in here."

Rufus sat back on the stool slightly, looking at the younger blond in silence for several moments. "....Alright." He said at last in a bit of an odd tone. "50,000 gil it is. I'll have the money wired through Reeve, then."

"Good." Cloud turned to locate Vincent. "Alright. Your show now, Vincent."

".......So it seems." Vincent gave Cloud an intent stare for a few moments, then shifted his gaze. "I cannot take everyone with me, there simply would not be the space. Therefore, my team will consist of Yuffie, Tseng...." He paused, looking around. "Cloud, Zack and.....Rude."

"Hey!" Reno protested. "What's the big idea splitting us up?! You know damn well Rude and I are a team, yo!"

Vincent gave a slight shrug. "I've met Thessa a total of one time, I don't know this other person you've picked up and you and I do not get along."

"Director!" Reno turned to Tseng.

"Valentine seems to be in charge of this incursion and considering he has been down there and we have not, it makes sense. Don't cause problems, Reno."

"Juyaku...." Reno's tone was nearly pleading. "Kudasai. Suru koto wa deki masen, zuto."

"Hey! HEY!" Yuffie pushed her way to the front and pointed accusingly. "How _dare_ you stain my language with your gaijin mouth! Honorless dog!"

"Yuffie!" Vincent's tone was sharp. "If you haven't noticed, Tseng is from Wutai as well. It would make sense for him to teach those under his command the same language, especially considering most people don't speak it around here."

Yuffie turned to look at him, appearing startled. "But Vincent, he--"

"If you think to take umbrage at him speaking Wutaiese, then could we not take offence at you speaking _our_ language? You need to think about these things."

"But--!"

" _Hush_ Yuffie, if you please." Vincent sighed softly. "What are you afraid of, Reno? Your tone tells that well enough, so what do you know?"

Reno grit his teeth and gave Vincent a side glare. ".......The stories about that place." He answered at length. "It's a nightmare."

"It is at that." Vincent agreed. "But....as Tseng said, you can't so easily lie to a Turk and I have retained my training." He half shut his eyes. "As Cloud has put me in charge of this, it is my duty to protect the ones I am taking with me. You know something, and if it's something I haven't already encountered it would do well to tell us about it."

"How the--there is _no_ way you can tell if I'm lying or not!" Reno pointed at him. "I got the same training you did, yo!"

" _That_ , I doubt." Vincent twitched the edge of his cloak. "In any event, one can tell much if they have the nose and the knowledge. You know something. Tell us what it is."

Reno hopped to his feet and only Rude quickly grabbing his partner's arm kept the redhead from advancing. "Now _listen_ , you--"

"Reno." Rufus cut in. "Tell him what you know."

There was the sound of teeth grinding, but then Reno gave a stiff nod and turned to look at Vincent. "Nero the Sable."

"He died."

"No." Reno shook his head jerkily. "He _can't_ die. You don't know what they did to make the bastard. He's a part of the Planet, he's a part of that....thing--Chaos."

 _'You cannot be contained by this darkness, because a part of you was born from it.'_ Vincent's pupils dilated almost to the point where black would overpower the red. _So_ that's _why Weiss wanted it. For Nero!_ "We can't waste any more time." Vincent spoke briskly. "We need to find Weiss and stop him." He swung away to the door and marched outside, not bothering to wait for the others. Nero had joined with Weiss, and if Nero was somehow part of Chaos....

The others Vincent had chosen glanced at one another and then moved to follow, Cloud once more heading for his bike and Zack once more showing he had no survival instinct by following.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cloud's [swords](http://i48.tinypic.com/dlkl51.jpg).
> 
> Crossposted to [DeviantArt](http://naosuloff.deviantart.com/gallery/34469925) and [FF.net](http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5454968/6/The_Planets_Enemy).


	7. The Reactor

The hum of the engine was the loudest sound. Noises from outside occasionally permeated--usually the proximity of Cloud's bike--but for the most part things were quiet within the Shinra vehicle. Vincent sat in the back, leaning against the door with his arms loosely crossed and eyes shut. Across from him was Yuffie, fidgeting with her clothes and occasionally glancing in his direction. He gave every indication of resting, but instead he was deep in thought.

Reno's words worried him. If Nero could not truly die, if Weiss had taken the Protomateria and Chaos for Nero.....how could he fight the one who controlled the darkness, controlled Chaos? How could anyone? Nero could suck up whatever he chose into his infinite darkness, and the only being that could fight against that would be fused with him.

 _'Juyaku. Kudasai. Suru koto wa deki masen.'_ He went over the redhead's words in his mind. _'Director. Please. You can't.' He can't what? Send Rude to Deepground?_ He frowned faintly. Did Reno know something else he hadn't mentioned? What were they preparing to fight down there? Was it certain they would find anything? Or was turning the reactor on meant to draw attention, perhaps meant to be a trap or a diversion? The fingers of his right hand tightened on his arm. Tseng and Rude would just be unfortunate victims, but if Cloud or Yuffie got harmed or killed because he'd made a mistake....

 _The mantle of leadership is a heavy one._ It was easy to see why Cloud wore it so uncomfortably, for though Cloud was good at leading, he was about as introverted as Vincent was. He would be happier to just follow--and on this mission, that was exactly what he got to do. Yet, there was the other presence in Cloud....and Sephiroth likely had the opposite issue.

Ruby slits peered out the tinted window. Aerith had said Sephiroth deserved a chance to redeem himself, and Vincent had chosen to take the ticking timebomb with him into a volatile area. It was no secret in their group that Cloud had something of a sensitivity to mako and the reactor was likely to be brimming with it since it was on. Such a concentration could weaken the blond and....then what? Could Sephiroth take control of him? What would he do if he could? If Weiss and Genesis were there, whom would Sephiroth choose to fight?

The mantle of leadership was a heavy burden indeed.

"Vincent...?"

Sighing inwardly, he opened his eyes completely to look over at the young ninja. "Yes, Yuffie?"

She looked back at him, her eyes somewhat large. "Do you.....ever get scared?"

"Odd question....I suppose so."

"You _suppose_ so?! You don't even know?!"

 _Grant me the serenity...._ He gave a slight shrug. "It isn't something I think about. No matter how afraid I might feel, I still do what I must do, so why would I dwell on it?"

Yuffie looked frustrated. "You're not scared at all at the idea of fighting Nero without having Chaos?" She pressed.

Vincent turned away and sighed softly. "My feelings don't factor into this situation, Yuffie. I have to try." He looked back at her again. "But I did not face the darkness the way you did, so I understand you would have greater trepidation."

"Are you calling me a coward?! Because if you are--"

The side of Vincent's fist hit the seat between them, the sudden motion startling Yuffie into silence. She shrank back against the door, fixated by the angry red eyes staring at her from beneath his bandana.

"You are one of the bravest people I have had the pleasure of knowing." He said, his tone calm in spite of the irritation making his eyes glow. "It is not cowardice to feel fear, and bravery is but the overcoming of the urge to flee from danger. That being said....." He dropped his arm. "Your buster and bravado now is doing the exact opposite of impressing me. Now _do_ be quiet, if you so please."

And with that, Vincent turned away again. Sometimes Yuffie amused him, and more than once he'd been glad to have her watching his back. Right now however he was far from amused and not at all glad for her presence. He could accept that she was afraid--terrified--of Nero, but whining about it just showed her childishness. If she did not start acting her age soon, then Wutai was not going to fair well at all with her as its leader.

He looked out the window and quietly watched the scenery pass. _If we don't stop Weiss, then that is going to be the least of her worries...._

\------------------------------------------------------------

Two hours and lots of walking from the location where the vehicles had to stop later, they arrived at the foot of the Shinra building. Then more walking and climbing was involved to find the entrance to Reactor 0. As they proceeded, Yuffie became increasingly nervous until Cloud temporarily took over the situation to have her give them directions on how she had gotten in and then he sent her off to wait for them with instructions to call his phone if she didn't hear from them in two hours time--and then if she couldn't get a hold of him, to call Tifa. This being done, they then proceeded to head into the reactor proper.

"These.....weren't here before." Vincent stated as soon as they came out onto the boardwalk above the main walkway. When Vincent had last been in Reactor 0, there had been nothing but mako refinement canisters. Now in their place were single rows of containment tubes, each one with a body contained within. After a few moments of listening to the steady hum and beep of machinery, he moved to step over the tops of the tubes and drop down. "Identical....every last one of them."

The others followed, dropping down by him and both Cloud and Zack hissed when they saw the forms within.

"Genesis copies." Tseng observed calmly, looking along the row. "At least a dozen in here alone."

"Wearing Deepground clothing." Vincent peered at the vitals displayed on the side of a tube. "Weiss is building up an army of copies....but there doesn't seem to be any brain activity. They're alive but vegetative."

"Maybe they're not done yet?" Zack experimentally tapped on the glass of the one in front of him.

".......In any event." Cloud spoke up, fixing his eyes down the hallway toward the heart of the reactor. "Our objective is in there, right?"

"Hopefully." Vincent glanced at the Genesis copies again and then started down toward the closed doors hiding the heart of the reactor. He pulled Cerberus free of its holster to hold at the ready and Zack and Cloud took the Buster sword and the fully assembled Merciless off their respective backs. Tseng and Rude trailed behind, as they were the ones most likely to get seriously hurt or killed in any conflict concerning Weiss or Genesis.

Vincent pushed the doors open and stepped inside only to come to an abrupt halt, weapon half-raised. The previously open area had been nearly completely filled with containment tubes, thick wires running in every which direction to connect them. The only clear space was directly down the middle to the throne before the reactor. There didn't seem to be anyone in the room, just tube after tube of Genesis copies.

"Holy crap..." Cloud intoned as he and the others filed in behind Vincent. "A dozen out there, a couple dozen in here.....that's around thirty six copies......"

"And that isn't even counting what may be in the other reactors." Tseng slowly looked around at all the tubes. "The largest question I have is how this was accomplished."

"Weiss had absorbed Hojo's neural data.....it seems he retained the knowledge, if not the man himself." Vincent's tone was low and growly, posture tense. "This place needs to be destroyed...." He looked around, and then focused on the thick tangle of wires. "That. Destroy the wires, and the copies will all die. Cloud, if you would."

"Of course." Cloud stepped forward and lifted Merciless.

"Don't!"

The blond halted his downward swing with difficulty and turned in the direction of the shout. "Zack?"

"Don't....destroy it just yet." Zack had wandered away from the others when they'd filed in and was out of sight in the mass of tubes. His voice sounded strange and Cloud frowned.

"Zack...?" He called again and jumped atop the tubes to find his friend quicker, soon jumping down beside him again. "Zack, what....?" He trailed off when his friend pointed and he turned his head to stare stupidly at the contents of the tube in front of him.

This individual was different from the others. Though he had the same Deepground-styled uniform as the copies, the build and face was far far different.

"Angeal...." Cloud muttered under his breath. He himself had only encountered the man during the mission to Modeoheim, but Sephiroth certainly knew him.

"Angeal." Zack agreed with an unsteady tone. Cloud looked at him and he could see that his friend was trembling. Concerned, he brought his hand up to touch Zack's arm, but then stopped before he completed the motion.

 _"How strange it must feel"_ Sephiroth snarled in Cloud's mind. _"to face again the man he'd murdered."_

 _"Shut up!"_ Cloud snapped back at him. _"Can't you see he's upset?!"_ He moved his hand to complete the motion and put on Zack's arm to gave a light squeeze before letting go again.

Zack glanced at him and offered a faint smile before he turned back to the tank and brought his hands up to the glass, then he leaned his forehead on it and shut his eyes. "......Genesis.....how did he do this.....how did he clone Angeal?!"

"Genetic samples were taken from all members of SOLDIER." Tseng supplied as he, Rude and Vincent joined them. "It's possible Deepground gained access to those samples." He looked at Cloud. "There was no mention of Genesis before this. This isn't the best time to ask for what you might know about this situation, but this seems to be quickly becoming an elevated problem."

Cloud nodded slightly to him. "Hm....oh I agree with you, Tseng." He turned away then to look at Zack, who was still leaning on the tank and then shifted his attention to the monitor of the clone's vitals. "Brain dead, just like the others. Whatever Weiss and Genesis know about cloning, they don't know how to bring them to life."

"I don't mean to intrude, but" Vincent jerked his chin at the tank Zack was leaning on. "who is the man in there?"

"Angeal Hewley. Former SOLDIER operative and the third product of the Jenova project." Tseng told him simply.

"Third....." Vincent sighed softly. "So he's like Genesis then."

"No!" Zack hit the tank weakly with his palm. "He was a good man with honor! He forced me to kill him rather than.....he thought he was a monster! Genesis made them both think they were monsters!" He made a pained sound in his throat. "He's a good man...."

Cloud shifted uncomfortably, then put his hand on Zack's arm again. "Maybe Aerith will send him back like she did to you?" He offered lamely.

Zack shook his head. "She couldn't even if she wanted to. He never went to the Lifestream." He turned his head to look at the blond and Cloud realized he was crying. "He's still _there_ , at Modeoheim.....a ghost.....he wouldn't listen when I tried to reach him." Zack turned back to the tank and squeezed his eyes shut, fingers curling on the glass.

Vincent sighed heavily and reached into his pocket, extracting the crystal he had taken from the relic the day before. "Perhaps this will work without the rest of it." He suggested, but then frowned and looked at it. "Or perhaps not.....it no longer pulses."

"Here...." Zack wiped his eyes and turned, holding his hand out for it. "let me try." Vincent obligingly dropped the crystal into his hand and Zack closed his fingers around it, then held it to his heart for several seconds before turning back to the tank and holding the crystal up against the glass. At first nothing happened, but then Zack let out a startled cry of pain and the crystal lit up so suddenly and brightly that everyone instinctively threw an arm up to shield their eyes. When the light faded again they were left blinking away spots and Zack was standing with a grip on his wrist and a surprised look on his face.

"Che....damnit.....I should have told you, the relic got hot when I used it...." Cloud muttered. "Are you alright, Zack?"

"I think so...." Zack gingerly picked at the crystal to peel it off his glove and then drop it into his own pocket before staring at the damage done. "That kinda sucked though." He looked up at the tank that held Angeal, but before his eyes could focus there was shattering glass behind him and the pouring out of mako. Alarms began to blare and Zack found himself grabbed around the neck and yanked backward to slam his head into the tank behind him.

"Shit!" Cloud jerked around, eyes widening as he saw other clones breaking their way out of their tanks. "They've _all_ come alive! The relic must focus the energy!"

"Now isn't the time to speculate!" Vincent had his gun out and he fired at the clone who'd grabbed Zack, killing it and making it let go. Zack collapsed to the mako drenched floor, coughing and shuddering, eyes gone blank and wide. Several more shots and several more clones died before even escaping their tanks. "We can't fight in here, there's no room!"

Tseng and Rude needed no further urging and they were off, weaving their way through the maze of tanks. Occasionally Tseng fired his gun at one of the copies, but his bullets didn't seem to be as effective as Vincent's were and he mostly just succeeded in pissing them off.

"Zack, come on!" Cloud grabbed his friend and began to tug at him. "What's gotten into you?! _MOVE!_ " Zack snapped out of his daze and got to his feet, then without much more urging, he followed Cloud and jumped up onto the top of the tanks to travel along them and reach the narrow corridor between the doors and the reactor. Cloud jumped back down by Tseng and Rude, but Zack remained balancing atop one of the tanks. It seemed like he intended to stay there until Tseng shot at one of the copies that had lunged at him from around one of the tanks and he jerked so badly he nearly lost his balance.

Cloud grit his teeth. Zack reacted to the sound of guns. Of course he would, he'd been _shot_ to death! "Zack, just stay there!"

The raven-haired man fell into a crouch, his mako blues wide. "Cloud....I'm sorry. This is my--"

"Don't even _try_ to take the blame, Zack! There was no way to focus the crystal!" Cloud jumped up onto a tank opposite his friend and swung his sword around to activate one of the materia junctioned to it. "Tseng! Rude! Get away from the cables!"

The Turks moved quickly, hurrying toward the reactor itself and once Cloud deemed it good enough he jumped into the air to come down hard on the cables, slicing them apart and electrifying them with the Thundaga in his sword. The electricity traveled back down the lines, zapping most of the copies. Some of them died instantly, but others managed to survive the charge and even seemed strengthened by it, moving all the quicker from their containment. They were starting to climb up atop the tanks as well, seeing it as a quicker way to their objectives--the intruders. Vincent hopped atop the tanks himself and began shooting the ones he could, but now even his bullets didn't seem as effective and the remaining ones were taking longer to die.

"Cloud" Vincent half-growled, slicing a copy across the face with his gauntlet and sending it crashing back to the floor. "do you have any ideas?"

"We need to get out of here..." Cloud looked at the doors that would take them back out, but he had no idea if the copies there had come alive as well. "it's too cramped in here and they have us outnumbered." He punctuated his sentence by bashing a copy with the broad side of Merciless.

"They outnumber us, but we have weapons and they don't." Vincent pointed out.

"And they're not dying fast enough." Cloud looked over at the Turks. Tseng was firing as quickly as he could, but as one copy fell, two more seemed to replace it. It was like a horror zombie movie. Rude had taken a fighting stance next to the Director, but weak as the copies were, they had still been made with a SOLDIER's DNA and would probably be able to overwhelm the two men without too much trouble.

"Zack!" The raven-haired man jumped a bit when Cloud called his name. "Any ideas?"

"Uhm...." Zack looked around for inspiration, but in the end he shook his head and licked dry lips. He hated this, but every time Vincent or Tseng fired, he flinched. The guns didn't sound like the rifles that had killed him, but still he reacted and that kind of weakness was intolerable in his eyes.

 _I'm getting better._ Zack told himself. _Next time I won't be so weak....I mean, what would Angeal--_ He cut his own train of thought off. "Hey! If you see Angeal....even if he's not acting like Angeal, don't kill him!" He called to the others. "Just....knock him out or something."

Tseng and Rude ignored the request, but both Vincent and Cloud looked around themselves briefly. "I don't see him, Zack." Cloud told him, then spun to dodge a strike from a copy armed with a bit of broken glass and he hissed through his teeth. This really wasn't a good situation at all and he again jumped up atop the tanks. _I'm sorry...._ He once more called upon the Thundaga and held Merciless up, aiming for a widespread cast even though such an attack would hit his allies as well. He was just about to release the magic when pain spiked through his head so suddenly that he tumbled right off the tubes to the mako-drenched floor. He thought at first that Sephiroth had done it, but when the same kind of sharp pain rained down on his back and legs he realized he was being struck with something. However, before he could retaliate he found his face shoved down into the mako and his arms and legs being restrained.

"Cloud!" Zack jumped to his feet, hoisting the Buster sword along with him. Enough was enough! He was done cowering just because shots were being fired around him, his friend was gonna get killed! He launched himself across the narrow corridor to slice through the copies from above and get them off of Cloud, who came up hacking violently--just because you could breathe fresh mako didn't mean you would want to. "Hurry!" Zack called to him, eyeing the copies which he'd injured but largely not managed to kill. "Get up here. We need to finish this."

Cloud gave an awkward jump that didn't quite clear the tanks, forcing Zack to have to drag him the rest of the way and then he shook his head out, gave a few more violent coughs and wiped at his eyes. "Damn..." He muttered. "they were trying to drown me or something....."

"Never mind that." Zack hefted the Buster sword. "You're the only one with materia, right? When the Turks showed up at the bar, we forgot to get some for ourselves."

Cloud hissed through his teeth and edged up to stand back to back with his taller friend. "That's right....." He sighed. "I have no idea if Tseng or Rude have any, or Vincent....but you're definitely out of luck....."

"Well, what've you got?"

The copies were starting to climb up after them, but the injuries Zack had just inflicted were slowing them down and that gave Cloud time to take mental stock. "I have Thundaga and Waterga linked in my sword and Graviga and Ultima.....in my right arm. Learned that trick from Sephiroth's remnants. Curaga in my left. All mastered."

Zack chose not to think too hard about how Cloud had junctioned materia into his body and instead tried to concentrate. "Damnit....this would be a great time for some Hell materia...." He muttered under his breath.

"What?"

"I'll explain later." Zack looked around. "Che....everything's metal in here.....okay.....this is probably gonna suck, but.....Vincent! Go over to the Turks! Cloud, we're going there too."

Cloud glanced back at him. "You have a plan?"

"I've got a plan." And Zack launched himself off the tubes to land hard on the closest Genesis copies approaching Tseng and Rude. He winced when a bullet grazed his neck, but he was in the zone now and wasn't very phased by it. He took up a position in front of them and seconds later, Vincent and Cloud joined him.

"Alright, now what?" Cloud asked.

"Now cast that Waterga, then follow it with Thundaga!" Zack pointed ahead of them. "Aim that way. It might cascade back on us, but we'll have to risk it...."

Cloud had to admit that this was better than his plan, but at the same time he hesitated. "Are you sure....? What about Angeal?" It was one thing when it was his own idea, but Zack's....

"......Have to risk it. Now do it!"

The water shot out in all directions, tumbling the nearest copies and splashing back on them. When Cloud followed up with the electricity they did indeed feel it as well, but not as strongly as the copies. When the first attack didn't work, Cloud followed up with a second barrage and then a third just to make sure. Then they stood there with only soft dripping and their breathing breaking the otherwise stillness.

"Looks like that did it...." Cloud slowly moved forward, setting Merciless into the straps. He looked back at Zack. "Can't clone a soul, huh...?"

"Can't clone a soul, but that doesn't mean a soul can't go into the wrong body." Zack responded. "Now then...." And setting the Buster sword onto his back, he headed into the mess of tubes, stepping gingerly to avoid piercing the soles of his boots on the sharp glass.

"You're bleeding, Cloud." Vincent pointed out to the blond. "Rather heavily, actually."

"......I am?" Cloud reached up to touch the back of his head and came back with blood on his glove. "So I am.....what the hell did they hit me with?! Hmph. Curaga." The restorative magic actually made him sag a bit, even as his injuries healed. Using materia became taxing after a while.

"Most likely the glass from their tanks." Tseng pointed out, stepping around Cloud and Vincent to nudge a Genesis copy onto its back. He crouched to examine it, but Cloud had lost interest.

"Zack?" He called. "Everything alright?"

"....Yeah. Everything's fine. Can't find the release, that's all."

"Can't find the...." Cloud trotted after Zack and soon found him looking all around the tank that Angeal was in. Like the copies, he had come to life, but unlike them he hadn't even attempted to break out and was just floating there. Cloud glanced at his friend, and then looked at Angeal who looked calmly back at him. Right body, but right soul? "Are you certain that it's Angeal in there?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Zack crouched down to see if there was something down there that could possibly open the tank.

"You just said souls can go to the wrong body. And you'd also said your friend had never gone to the Lifestream. With the Lifestream being dredged out right here, wouldn't it make more sense for a closer soul to take over the body?"

Zack peeked out from around the tank, and for several moments he was silent. "......Well whoever it is didn't attack us, so Angeal or not, I'm getting him out of there."

"....Alright then." Cloud looked at the clone of Angeal and motioned for him to move back. The clone gave a slow blink and then pushed himself away from the front of the tank and Cloud unslung Merciless to slam the blade into the glass, cracking it.

"Hey!" Zack jumped to his feet and jumped around to the front of the tank. "Cloud, what the hell are you doing?!"

"I cut the wires, Zack. There's no power to make it release. I have to break him out." With another awkward swing in the cramped space he broke through and mako began to spill out. Cloud and Zack both stepped out of the way and Cloud gave a sneeze. "All this damn mako is starting to make me foggy." He groused. "Stay back." He told the Angeal clone and unlinked Vendetta from the main blade to cram into the top of the tank and use it as a lever to further break the glass so Angeal would be able to get out. He ended up having to slam Merciless into the floor so he could use both hands, but it worked and soon enough the clone was able to step out.

The clone looked between them and softly coughed once, then finally focused on Zack and arched a brow. "I think the right thing to say right now would be 'what the hell'?"

Zack bit his lip. "......Angeal.....?"

A soft sigh. "Yes."

"Oh....oh man......An-Angeal....." Zack grabbed his arm as if he couldn't believe he was real, and then hugged him hard. "Angeal!"

Angeal pushed at him to try and make him let go, but the motion seemed half-hearted and in the end he just let the other man cling. "Zack...." He said with some exasperation.

Cloud began to laugh softly. "Afraid you're just going to have to put up with it." He addressed the former First Class. "You know how he can be." He pulled his sword free of the floor and clicked Vendetta back into the blade, then turned to walk away with a slight smile. Cloud had gotten his best friend back, and now Zack had his. Now if only Genesis and Weiss would mysteriously drop dead and Sephiroth would go to his rest he could call it the month of miracles. But, speaking of Sephiroth....

"Tseng." He addressed the leader of the Turks when he came back into view. "You said genetic samples were taken from all SOLDIERs, did that include Sephiroth?" Vincent gave him a sharp look, but he ignored it.

Tseng looked up from his examination of the Genesis copy. "That's right." He confirmed. "Why do you ask?"

"Why do you think?" Cloud spread his hands. "If they could clone Angeal, why would they stop there? Why not clone Sephiroth too? An army of Sephiroth's? That would make more sense than an army of Genesis's, wouldn't it? It would provoke more fear....or something."

"Hm." Tseng shook his head and looked back at the Genesis copy. "A good point. However, unlike the rest of SOLDIER, Sephiroth's samples were kept in the direct care of Professor Hojo."

"Weiss has Hojo's memetic data." Vincent stated, still eyeing Cloud.

"If that is the case.....then it may be a valid concern." Tseng got to his feet. "What of Angeal?"

"Currently being clung to by Zack."

Tseng gave a slight nod and looked off at the tanks. "And it is really him?"

"Seems to be." Cloud gave a slight shrug. "It isn't as if I'd ever met the man before Modeoheim."

"Mm...you remember that?"

"It was when I met Zack, so I'd hope so."

Tseng gave a thoughtful nod. "Cloud, I have a question for you. When did you start to regain your memories?"

Cloud gave him a look. "What?"

"Your memories." Tseng repeated. "When we encountered one another again in Midgar after you had sided with AVALANCHE" Cloud twitched. "you didn't seem to remember me at all, and you were identifying yourself as an ex-SOLDIER. When did that change?"

".......They came back during the original hunt for Sephiroth." Cloud eyed the other man with some wariness. Why was this coming up all of a sudden?

"That long ago? ......I see." Tseng gave another thoughtful nod. "Then why did you lose them in the first place?"

"......Oh, I don't know." Cloud's tone was slightly sarcastic because he felt on the defensive. "Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I was _experimented on_!"

"There's no need to get upset." The Director of the Turks responded calmly. "I'm only curious."

Cloud shook his head slightly. "You're a Turk. You're never 'only curious'." Vincent quietly cleared his throat and Cloud glanced at him. "You're different, Vincent. You've earned my trust, and you say you're a former Turk."

"No one is 'former' when it comes to the Turks." Vincent replied, though he moved to step away. "The training is too deep for that.....but my training is different from theirs, so maybe when it comes to them I'm wrong."

Tseng gave a quiet sigh and put a hand to his forehead. "In any event" He said. "I have to inform the President of what we found here and get further orders. It would probably be best if we left quickly."

"Right." Getting out of there was something Cloud was certainly not going to protest. The mako was all over his clothes and in his hair, and he wanted to wash off quickly before it started to affect him. "Zack! Come on, we're leaving!"

"Yeah, coming!" Soon Zack came into view with Angeal following. The older man paused briefly when he saw Tseng, but then continued following Zack. Cloud looked them both over and gave a slight nod, then moved toward the doors to lead the way out. The tanks beyond the door remained unbroken, the copies inside not having been brought to life by the crystal.

Vincent stepped over to the nearest tank to check the vitals and then nodded in satisfaction. "Dead." He reported. "Cutting the wires out there cut them off too. That saves us some time."

"Good to know." Cloud responded. He hopped atop the tubes to make it to the walkway above and the others followed though the Turks and Angeal had to climb. Making it outside, Cloud found himself ambushed by a very frazzled Yuffie.

"I heard shots, was there a fight?! Are you guys okay? Was Nero--"

"No." Vincent cut her off harshly. "Now calm down. It was only......it's fine, we handled it. Calm down."

"....Hmph." Yuffie let go of Cloud and then wrinkled her nose. "Eew, what's that smell? Oh, you've got mako on you, and now it's on me!"

"Look before you leap, Yuffie." Cloud scratched at his scalp to try and dislodge some of the thick liquid. "I'm going to head back. I don't know what Tseng's going to be doing....so might have to call on Reeve to get a WRO vehicle out here to pick up the rest of you guys."

"Yeah...." She looked around at everyone, then fixated on Angeal and her eyes slowly widened. "You.....you, you!" She suddenly lunged at him. "You were there! You--! Hitogoroshi! Fumeiyona Shinra no zasshu! Temee wa korosu!"

"Yuffie!" Cloud grabbed her to hold her back. "What the hell?!"

".......She's saying he killed someone." Tseng said slowly. He looked at Angeal and then back at Yuffie. "But that would have been during the war." He gave a heavy sigh. "Yuffie Kisaragi." He said calmly but firmly. "Explain yourself."

Yuffie turned an infuriated expression on him, chest heaving. "Fort Tamblin!" She snapped after several moments. "That _yaro_....he massacred them!"

"Eh....oh crap....." Zack grimaced and stepped in front of his mentor. "Yuffie, that wasn't Angeal. That was _me_."

Yuffie stared at him blankly for several moments. "You...? But..."

"Yes." The raven-haired man said wearily. "Me. Angeal'd probably followed me to watch my back, but....I'm the one who took out Fort Tamblin. You met me in there, remember?"

For several more moments Yuffie stared at him, but then she straightened up and yanked herself free of Cloud to turn and walk away from the group.

"......Don't worry about it, Zack." Cloud tried to reassure his friend, who now looked a bit downtrodden. "It must just be a shock to her, but I'm sure she'll get over it."

Zack gave a heavy sigh. "Yeah. Okay...." He said in a tone that told Cloud he didn't believe him. The blond pinched his nose briefly and then looked at Angeal. This addition was going to be problematic. He'd dealt with intimidating individuals before, but this was the first time that individual was a SOLDIER First Class. How was Angeal going to react when he found out Cloud was the de facto leader? Hell, considering what he apparently thought of himself, was he even going to stay and could he be trusted if he did? He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Angeal, if I could have a word?" He motioned with his head and turned to walk away from the others as if expecting the former SOLDER to simply obey him.

 _"Oh now,_ this _should be interesting."_ Sephiroth commented.

Cloud opted not to reply and turned back once he deemed himself out of hearing range of the others. Angeal had indeed followed, though he'd stayed far enough back that Cloud didn't have to tilt his head too much to look at the taller man.

"Right." Cloud sighed softly. "My name is Cloud Strife. I understand it's been a few years, so I'll give you a quick run down of events." He glanced to the side briefly for inspiration, then looked back at the other man. "Zack took over SOLDIER after your.....death and as far as I know, he did a good job." He folded his arms loosely as he continued. "About....eight or so years ago, Sephiroth, Zack and I were sent to check on the Nibelheim reactor.....something happened within the reactor and Sephiroth became obsessed with the notion that the creature kept within the reactor--called Jenova--was his birth mother." He paused briefly, waiting to see if Sephiroth would lash out at him for his wording, but when nothing happened he quickly continued. "This ended in him deciding to burn Nibelheim and kill the residents.....Zack and I were able to stop him, just barely.....but he resurfaced four years later and...." Cloud shook his head. "the long and the short of it is, I and my team were able to stop him.....but he'd summoned the ultimate destructive force, Meteor. It ended up destroying Midgar." He motioned to their surroundings and Angeal cocked a brow and looked around briefly. He frowned, but then returned his attention to Cloud and mutely nodded.

Cloud remained silent for a few moments, gathering his thoughts. Angeal didn't need to know about Sephiroth's temporary rebirth thanks to Kadaj and the head of Jenova, and Cloud didn't know enough about Deepground to give enough details there. It was best to just go straight to current affairs. "Genesis has resurfaced in recent days. He's already killed at least one person and nearly killed a member of my team. He's working alongside a man named Weiss. We don't know what their objective is currently, but considering what's happened so far.....it can't be good. Now then.....Shinra is all but gone--it fell apart after Midgar was destroyed. Khymera Corporation has taken its place and they've employed all the remaining SOLDIERs if you would like to join them.....or you could join my team and help us stop Genesis and Weiss."

Angeal looked at him silently for several moments, then she shook his head and turned away. "I choose neither." He looked over at the others. The Turks had stepped away from Cloud's friends and Tseng seemed to be speaking on his phone with someone. Zack had crouched down and was prodding at some rubble with his hand and Vincent was watching the Turks. "I don't know what Zack has told you, as I'm fairly certain I've never seen you before myself......but Zack has a tendency to gloss over things he doesn't like. I shouldn't even be alive right now."

"No, but you are. You have a second chance." Cloud straightened up. "We would really appreciate your help."

"You don't know anything about me. The answer is no." Angeal moved to walk away.

Cloud grit his teeth. "I know you were an experiment, like Sephiroth and Genesis. I know you have a wing, like they do. I know you consider yourself a monster." He took a deep breath. "I also know that none of that matters."

Angeal stopped, his fingers curling into loose fists. "You think not?" His tone was starting to turn hostile.

"I _know_ not. Vincent was experimented on by Professor Hojo. He had four monsters--at least--implanted into him. Monsters he transforms into and which has taken years for him to learn to control. He used to potentially turn on any one of us when we first met him, but my team and I still consider him one of us. Another member of my team, Red XIII--he's a four legged, furred beast. He's also more intelligent than most humans. He _looks_ like a monster, and yet he's just about the furthest thing from one. Your _choices_ make you a monster, not your race...or species, or whatever."

Angeal looked back at him, expression unreadable for several moments before he sighed heavily and gave a slight nod. "I'll.....think about what you've said." He said slowly. "I suppose in the meantime, I'll have to.....stick around."

"Thank you." Cloud watched as he walked over to Zack, then looked up at the sky when it gave an ominous rumbling. By the looks of things, it was soon going to rain. The blond gave a heavy sigh and moved to head back over to the others. As he rejoined them, Tseng concluded his phone conversation and turned to step over to them himself.

"The President has ordered us to return to Seventh Heaven." Tseng told Cloud. "I don't know what his plans entail after that, however."

Cloud gave a soft but heavy sigh. "Alright." He glanced up at the sky again. "We should get going then before the rain--"

And of course, the skies decided to open up right then and drench them all within seconds. Immediately everyone scrambled for cover and ended up crowding under an overhanging fold of metal while the rain seemed to be doing its best to drown their surroundings.

 _Well, that took care of the mako at least._ Cloud thought dourly as he watched the now diluted material running off his clothing. He then looked out into the downpour and wondered if Yuffie had managed to find shelter....though knowing her, she'd probably walked back to the Shinra vehicle while they were all standing around by the reactor and broken into it--and stolen everything inside she thought she could make off with, if not the vehicle itself.

They ended up waiting nearly fifteen minutes before the rain tapered off and wet and shivering, Cloud's group and the two Turks were all equally miserable as they tromped off back for the vehicles. When they arrived, Cloud found his guess had been right. Yuffie _had_ indeed taken refuge in the Shinra vehicle, though it didn't seem like she'd done any vandalizing. She opened the door when they showed up and giggled softly. "Cloud, you look like a half-drowned chocobo!"

" _Thanks_ , Yuffie." Cloud responded dryly, pushing at his water-flattened hair a bit self-consciously.

She emerged from the car, not much drier than they were and squeezed out her shirt. If Cloud wasn't used to Tifa, the sight of Yuffie's clothes clinging to her like a second skin likely would have turned his face red. Poor Vincent was not so lucky and rolled his eyes upward to avoid seeing more of it.

"Okay..." Cloud said with a sigh. "I guess Yuffie's riding with me. Try not to throw up on me, alright?"

"Huh?" Yuffie blinked at him. "Why am I going with you?" She paused and looked at Zack. "Oh...." She stuck her nose in the air and turned away from the two SOLDIER's. "Yeah. Fine."

Cloud facepalmed and sighed heavily. She was twenty years old, but still acted like the sixteen year old she'd been when he'd first met her. When the hell was she going to stop being such a brat?! He turned toward his bike. "Alright then, let's go."

".....You know, on second thought.....I'll walk." Cloud looked back at Yuffie, who had backed away from both vehicles and was holding her wrist with the opposite hand in a nervous motion. "My old man says it's good for the body anyway...."

Cloud gave her a funny look while the others got into the Turks vehicle. "You want to walk...? Yuffie, we're in the middle of the city! It will take you hours to get to Edge!"

"Then I'll summon Leviathan and ask it to carry me!" The young ninja retorted. "I just....I need to think." She nodded slightly. "Just need to think."

"........Yeah, fine.” Cloud leaned back on his bike and sighed. He watched as the Turks drove off and then switched his attention to Yuffie as she headed off after the vehicle. She glanced back at him with a nervous look before jumping around some debris and was out of sight. It wasn’t hard for Cloud to come to the only logical conclusion.

"Great..." He muttered, straightening up again to try and squeeze out his clothes a bit. That was one more person afraid of him because of Sephiroth. Once he'd done what he could with his clothing, he moved to get on his motorcycle, wrinkling his nose a bit when the seat squished under him. He was about to turn the bike on to follow the Turk vehicle when his phone gave off a bizzare ditty.

"What the...?" He reached down to grab it and flip it open and then he groaned in dismay. "Why now?" He muttered. Why now did a prior engagement have to come up that he had no way of getting out of? After a few more moments, he gave a heavy sigh and shut his phone to put it away again, then turned his motorcycle on to head back to Seventh Heaven.

\------------------------------------------------------------

To say Tifa was annoyed would be a bit of an understatement. She had Shinra employees in her bar. Worse, she had _Rufus Shinra_ in her bar. Even though this was not the original Seventh Heaven, it still felt like blasphemy. The Turks she could tolerate, even the ones she didn't know--but Rufus.....

She subtly looked over toward him. He'd moved from the bar to one of the tables closer to the door, the two unknown Turks were sitting near him and they were all speaking quietly with their heads close together. In the row on the other end of the room Cid sat with Cait, the former eyeing the Shinra President and employees with annoyance and the latter happily spearing and eating sardines out of a tin Tifa had given him. Finally, the woman turned her attention to Reno, who was sitting at the bar nursing a Spiky Cactaur pop he'd bought from her. He looked like he could use something far harder than that, but as he was still on duty he couldn't indulge himself.

"Worried about Rude?" She finally ventured softly.

Reno tilted his head slightly to regard her with one blue eye. "They're only checking the reactor, right? Shouldn't be a problem."

Tifa put her hands on her hips. "Who are you trying to convince, me or yourself?" She leaned forward slightly. "Did you leave something out earlier, is that it?"

"Hwaah...." Reno sipped his pop and grimaced. "Nice to know you trust my word, yo. Isn't Nero enough to be worried about?"

"I don't know about Nero--though considering how Vincent reacted, I suppose you have a point." She leaned on the bar, looking at Reno's face and trying to read his expression. "But what else is there? Vincent's the one who went into Deepground, so tell me. What is it about it? What is it that has you so concerned?"

Reno's eyes drifted briefly to her cleavage before he snapped them away and he leaned back to sip his drink again. "The whole place is a nightmare." The redhead muttered. "Big fat experiment pool. Used to be used for injured Infantry and the first SOLDIERs.....but then there was the Jenova Project." He eyed her, then shrugged. "But yeah, turned into a big experiment pool.....and if you think Hojo was bad, he spawned worse down there--or so I heard."

Tifa frowned and straightened up. ".....The Jenova Project." She said. "So it had a connection to Sephiroth?"

Reno shook his head and sighed. "There were two scientists working on the project, Hollander and of course, Hojo. Outta Project S was Sephiroth, but there was also Project G which made two kids....and one of them was kinda strange--don't remember quite how off the top of my head--and they took his cells to infuse into some fetuses down there....and worse, supposedly. One of the results of the experiments down there was Nero the Sable." Reno gave a feral grin briefly. " _That_ abomination was created because of _another_ scientist's research--Grimoire Valentine."

"Grimoire Valentine...." Tifa repeated slowly. Valentine. Was Reno hinting that this scientist had a relation to Vincent? She decided to file that information away for later. "So, what about Nero? You said earlier he had a part of Chaos in him, right? But how could that be possible?"

"Same way Cloud could be a part of Sephiroth, yo." Tifa stiffened briefly before she realized Reno was referring to Sephiroth's cells supposedly infused into Cloud during the time he was in Hojo's clutches and not because he knew Cloud was possessed by the man. Reno shrugged, seemingly not noticing her reaction. "Don't know the full details, but Nero is a part of the Planet--a part of Chaos. That was the standing theory, at least--and he was so dangerous he had to be chained up, so I'd say they were right."

Tifa crossed her arms and frowned, thinking briefly on what Reno had said earlier. ".....So....Project G.....for Gillian?"

The redhead looked at her sharply. "How do you know that?"

"......Zack mentioned it." She eyed the Turk. While it was satisfying to take him off guard, she knew she might accidentally reveal something the Turks shouldn't know--and likely without even realizing it.

"Zack....well, that just figures since he got up to his eyeballs mired in it all." Reno sipped his pop again. "But why'd he mention it? Not something I'd think he'd want to just bring up."

Tifa eyed the Turk, frowning faintly and wondering if she should tell him. In the end however, she decided it would be more dangerous if she didn't. Cloud might not agree with her and she certainly hadn't been pleased to find they'd showed up at her bar, but the more people on the watch for Genesis as well as Weiss, the better.

"Genesis has shown up." She told the redhead. "He's....already caused some problems. He's working with Weiss."

Reno gave a low hiss. "Weiss the Immaculate....Nero's older brother." He put a hand to his face. "Yep, Gaia's going to hell."

Tifa abruptly slammed her hands on the bar, startling Reno and making everyone else in the room look over. "Where were you all half a year ago when Deepground was kidnapping people?!" She exploded at him. "All that 'the pure will be spared for the cause' crap that was broadcast on TV, didn't you notice any of that?!"

Reno winced. "Ah, we--"

"They were evacuating who they could." Rufus spoke up. "Deepground struck too fast and hard, but as soon as I found out what was going on I tried to keep others safe."

Tifa looked at him, expression still somewhat furious. After a few seconds however, she let out a heavy breath and straightened up again. She forced herself to turn away and arrange some pots and pans to give herself a chance to calm somewhat.

"So...." She said at last, deciding to drop the current topic and move on to another one. "Grimoire Valentine....is he related to Vincent?" As soon as the question was out, she wished she could take it back. That was Vincent's history, something he'd kept private from them. All he'd told them had been that he'd been a Turk, loved Lucrecia and been experimented on by Hojo. They knew so little about him, but it was his story to tell....

"Heh." Reno finished off his drink and set the can on the counter. "Not sure I should tell you, yo. I might not like him, but he was one of us once and Turks don't betray their own." Which unfortunately was causing a hell of a problem finding Veld, as Thessa and Adrian could easily know his location and just weren't telling.

Tifa gave a huff of frustration even as she found herself relieved. Maybe she would try asking Vincent himself--it was his story to tell, and without Chaos he didn't seem as intimidating. She perked slightly when she heard a car pull up outside and looked over toward the door, which shortly opened to admit Rude, Tseng, Vincent, Zack and....a very built and rather tall individual wearing a Deepground uniform. She wasn't the only one who stiffened and Zack immediately got in front of the individual.

"Don't you _dare_!" The raven-haired man hissed at the Turks, eyes shifting between the ones by the door and Reno at the bar.

Tseng too moved forward. "Stand down." He told his Turks. "This is not an enemy of ours." He paused a moment, then said a word in Wutaiese. "Genzai."

Adrian sighed and pushed his glasses up his nose. "Tseng, it's been years. I'm certain neither Thessa nor I remember that language any longer."

"My apologies. I'll have to give you a refresher course, then." Tseng turned to Rufus. "Shall we go, sir?"

"I believe that would be wise, yes." Rufus rose along with Thessa and Adrian to follow Tseng out the door. Rude remained behind to wait for Reno to rise from the bar and then they left too.

Zack didn't relax until he heard the car pull away and then he turned to his mentor. "Well Angeal, here it is." He took the Buster sword off his back to flip around and offer the handle to the older man. "Sorry about any wear, tear or--"

"Zack, that's yours now." Angeal interrupted him, putting a hand up. "I don't deserve to have it any longer."

"Don't deserve...?" Zack lowered the weapon slightly, then put it on his back again. "Why not, Angeal? Because...." His eyes hardened slightly. "Because you're a 'monster'?" He asked lowly.

"Intending to tell everyone that, are you?" Angeal responded with a touch of irritation.

"He already told us before, while explaining about Genesis." Vincent spoke up, stepping around them. "But I would much appreciate it if you would not throw the word around, nor the thoughts of it. Jenova cells does not a monster alone make."

Angeal arched a brow at Vincent, but then returned his attention to the sulking puppy standing in front of him. He gave a heavy sigh, finding himself having to resist the urge to muss Zack's hair. "Because of....our last battle." He said lowly. "That is why I no longer have the right to the Buster sword."

Zack sighed heavily. "Alright, fine." He turned away. "Tifa, is there anything around here that could fit Angeal? And could he have a shower?"

"Yes, he can have a shower. I don't know if there's anything here that's....suitable for him to wear though." She frowned slightly at Angeal. "I don't stock clothes for clients that....built."

"Hmm...." Zack crossed his arms. "That's a problem, then."

"Nawt neccessarily." Cait spoke up, tail tip flicking in feline contentment. "Yae called him Angeal? Angeal Hewley?"

"That's right." Angeal said warily, eyeing him. "And you....?"

"Cait Sith. Occasional mouthpiece for Reeve Tuesti, who's the leader of the World Regenesis Organization." He gave a fangy grin. "Anyway bloke, ae can see if yaer fittings are listed in the public files--unless yae can just tell mae?"

"........Twenty across, twenty two down for shirts. Fourty four across, fourty two down for pants." Angeal rattled off his measurements somewhat flatly.

Cait gave a jaunty salute. "Ae'll see what ae can do!" He then fell quiet, presumably communicating with Reeve or whoever was on the other end of the mechanical cat at the time.

"Well, in the meantime, I'll show you to the shower." Tifa said, moving away from the bar to lift the countertop and motion Angeal over. "I'll do what I can about your clothes....but they look like they're the most mako-free part of you, oddly." She proceeded to lead Angeal upstairs, when she came down a few minutes later she found that Cloud had arrived, though without Yuffie and she noticed he looked a bit troubled.

"Cloud?" Tifa ventured, stepping over to him. "What's wrong? Where's Yuffie?"

Cloud looked over from where he'd seated himself with Zack, Cid and the seemingly offline Cait and sighed. "Yuffie decided to walk, hopefully to clear her head from her latest....issue." Zack wilted a bit as Cloud continued. "As for what's wrong...." He pulled out his cellphone and clicked a couple of buttons, then held it out to Tifa.

"Chocobo Fair. Gold Saucer. Must Attend." Tifa read off. She looked to the blond. "I don't understand."

"I'm selling off some members of my flock. I can't afford to keep paying Choco Bill to house them anymore. The Fair is tomorrow, and I _need_ to be there. Bill is shipping the birds in, but as the owner I need to sell them which means I _need_ to attend."

Tifa handed his phone back to him, frowning. "So what you're saying is we need to put our hunt for Genesis and Weiss on hold so you can do this."

Cloud shook his head. "No, that's not what I'm saying. _I_ need to go, but the rest of you don't have to. Cid can lead everyone just as--"

"Now hold on there, Spiky." Cid interrupted him, putting his hands up. "Don't go nominating me outta the goddamn blue like that. I led everyone before 'cause you'd gotten your ass mako poisoned. _You're_ our leader. What's the goddamn problem all of a sudden?" He suddenly leaned forward and poked Cloud in the forehead, making him recoil. "You ain't trying to run off on us, are you kid?" The grizzled pilot said. "You seem to have a habit of that when shit goes wrong for you."

".....I am _not_ running off!" Cloud snapped. He moved to stand, planting his hands firmly on the table and giving his older friend a glare. "If you're talking about when you couldn't find me for a month and a half, that was because I'd...." He trailed off. "Because.....Sephiroth had gotten a hold of my mind and pulled me to the Northern Crater.....like one of his copies....." He finished softly. Cloud hadn't lost time since, but the fact that Sephiroth had been able to do that at all....thinking on it again made him feel cold.

Zack reached up to forcibly yank Cloud back into a sit. "Let's rewind a little." He said seriously. "You have to sell some chocobos you own, you're going to the Gold Saucer to do that.....Cloud, the Gold Saucer is on the Western continent, isn't it?"

Cloud blinked at his friend, then nodded. "That's right."

"What else is on Western?" Now it was Zack's turn to poke Cloud's forehead. "Gongaga. I need to go home."

"Come to think of it, I think that wouldn't be a bad goddamn idea." Cid said thoughtfully, scratching his light stubble. "Shera's due soon, I should check on her and my current brat and Barret's over in North Corel cleaning up while between jobs I think. We can check on him too and ask him if he'd like to help save the world from these couple of crazies."

"There is also Cosmo Canyon, while we're speaking of absent friends." Vincent spoke up, moving from where he'd been leaning against the wall to approach. "There is much we could get done while Cloud is selling his flock."

"Then it's decided!" Zack smacked his palm on the table and began to grin. "Probably a good way to get Angeal used to everyone too, and I can take him to meet my folks too! I used to write home about him all the time, it would be about time they met him!" He turned to Cloud, his usual energy level coming back with a vengeance. "Andandand....chocobos! My Dad raises them, you know. He'd probably love the chance to see yours, if he hasn't managed to get transportation to the Saucer anyway. I've never been to the Gold Saucer, I think I told you that before and--"

"Zack, Zack! Calm down!" Cloud put his hands up. "I don't have to be at the Saucer until about mid-afternoon tomorrow, and since Cid is our ride there in the first place.....well, I'm pretty sure I'd pre-booked a room at Ghost Square, but that's a single. In any event, if we plan it right we might have time to fly to everywhere we need to go. I'll call the hotel to see if it has any other empty rooms.....and I didn't know your family raised chocobos."

"Well, we do!" Zack was very proud of this fact. He hopped to his feet and moved away from the tables a bit so he could do squats. "This is gonna be great! I finally get to see everyone again!"

Cloud gave a faint smile, looking at his friend. Zack's parents had been unaware of their son's fate at the time Cloud and the others had met them, but that situation could have changed by this point. But either way, they deserved to see their son. He only hoped the shock wouldn't kill them.

"Did someone say Gold Saucer?" Cait spoke suddenly, making everyone jump and look at him. The mechanical cat gave a happy sigh. "Ahh, mae old stomping grounds!"

"Hm." Tifa gave a faint smile. "Cait, do you think Reeve could take care of Marlene and Denzel while we're away? I know they can take care of themselves, but I'd feel better if they were with someone, considering the current situation."

"Nae problem, lass! Yae can send them along with the bloke bringing Angeal something tae wear."

"Alright, thank you." Tifa turned to head upstairs and let the children know.

"Speaking of Angeal...." Cloud said, turning back around to look at Zack once more. "Is it really safe to trust him? He was friends with Genesis, and with that opinion he has of himself...."

"Angeal's a good person, Cloud." Zack said softly, stopping his squats and looking over at his friend with a somber expression as his manic energy tapered off again. "He got messed up by Genesis, but he's a good person. He wouldn't want to hurt us."

"Are you _sure_ , Zack?" Cloud pressed. "I want to trust you, I want to trust him, but I need to be _sure_."

Zack squeezed his eyes shut, looking pained. ".......I'm sure." He said softly. "He's a good person."

"........Alright then." Cloud turned away again, unable to look at the expression on his friend's face. In the end though, Zack could still be wrong. The body was a clone, it could have something in it so it could be controlled. Why had it even _been_ there? It was the only one, what if it had been planted? Cloud groaned softly and put his head in his hands. _I don't like being so paranoid...._

"Thinking too hard on something, Spiky?" Cid asked, arching a brow.

"Yes." Cloud muttered. He sighed heavily and rubbed his forehead, then dropped his hands. "I have the weight of the world on my shoulders, or at least that's how it feels." He grumbled and rubbed his forehead again. "But for a couple of days at least, hopefully we'll be able to relax. We don't know where Weiss and Genesis are anyway."

"Indeed." Vincent said evenly. He moved away. "I think I will see if I can find Yuffie and harry her steps back here."

Cloud brought his head up to look at his taller friend. "You're not going to run off on us again, are you?" He said directly.

Vincent looked back at him with an unreadable expression for several moments, then sighed and shut his eyes briefly. "I swear to you, I will return." He said, looking away when he'd opened his eyes again.

"No Vincent, that's not an answer. You'd probably planned to return the last time, too."

Cloud saw a muscle in Vincent's jaw twitch and then Vincent gave another, heavier sigh. "I will go directly to find Yuffie and then we will together, return." He looked at Cloud out of the corner of his eyes. "Does _that_ satisfy you?"

Cloud sighed softly himself. "Yes, Vincent. Thank you." He couldn't blame the older man for getting peevish, he probably felt he was being treated like a misbehaving child and wasn't used to it. Cloud certainly didn't like feeling like he had to second guess everything Vincent said, and he watched as he left. Once the door had shut behind Vincent, Cloud thunked his head onto the table and covered the back of it with his arms for a few moments. "The whole planet's going crazy." He muttered.

And no one disagreed with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cloud's [swords](http://i48.tinypic.com/dlkl51.jpg).
> 
> Crossposted to [DeviantArt](http://naosuloff.deviantart.com/gallery/34469925) and [FF.net](http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5454968/7/The_Planets_Enemy).


	8. Wings

"Yuffie."

The voice came from behind her and the young ninja jumped, giving a squeak of surprise. She had been lost in thought and so the sudden speech had badly startled her. She spun around to glare at the man who had spoken to her.

"Damnit Vinny, stop being so quiet! You scared me half to death!" She sputtered at him.

"Ah. My apologies." Vincent responded blandly, not sounding at all contrite. He hopped down off the concrete block he had been crouched on and stepped over to her. "It seems you made good time from the Shinra building."

"Never underestimate the speed of a Wutai ninja!" Yuffie said proudly, puffing out her chest a bit. She blinked then and straightened up. "But what're you doing out here, Vincent? I thought you'd gone with the others."

"I had." Vincent stepped past her, clearly expecting her to simply follow him. "But we will be shortly departing for the Western continent, so I thought it best to find you."

"We're heading to Western?" Yuffie fell into step beside him, looking up at his face curiously. "What for?"

".....Cloud apparently has chocobos to sell, though we can get other matters done while we are over there regardless."

"Chocobos to sell?" Yuffie shook her head slightly. "Whatever." She fell quiet briefly, looking down. "Nothing ever phases you for long, does it?" She said softly. "You just....shrug things off so quickly.....how do you do that?"

Vincent arched a brow. "What do you mean?"

Yuffie played with the hem of her shorts, still looking down. "Lucrecia died, but you got over it within what....a day? And when we found out Sephiroth was in Cloud, you didn't seem even a little bit bothered by it....and you backed Aerith when she said to let Sephiroth stay....."

"Ah." Vincent sighed softly. ".....I am used to the burden of sins. However, what good does that do me or anyone else for me to show that burden openly? I do not mourn Lucrecia, because death was what she wished for. I mourn only my failure in protecting her, and when we find our enemies, they will pay for her murder. As for Cloud....as I had stated, I knew _something_ about him had changed, so discovering what it was became more of a relief for me than a shock. Finally, as to agreeing with Aerith....we know where Sephiroth is this way, and Cloud has proven fairly able to handle his influence in the past as well as now. I believe in Aerith, and I believe in Cloud."

Yuffie had begun to stare at him about midway through, and then she shook her head out. "That was a lot of words, Vinny. I don't think I've ever heard you say that much at one time before."

Vincent tilted his head slightly at her. "Oh. It seems I've used up my quota for the day. I shall now remain mute until tomorrow." He looked off ahead of himself as if this was exactly what he planned.

Yuffie's lip quirked up in a small smile and she pushed at his arm. "Jerk." She said fondly. She liked Vincent's subtle sense of humor, it proved that the usually stoic man did indeed have a personality. "But really." She became more serious again. "How do you do it?"

Vincent exhaled softly through his nose. "I hide it. That is all. Why are you pursuing this line of questioning?"

"......Nothing. Never mind." Yuffie fell quiet again and Vincent didn't pry. They walked along in silence for several more minutes before Yuffie spoke up again.

"Why are all these people coming back from the dead?" She said, tone somewhat distressed. "Zack, Sephiroth, and now that Angeal person....SOLDIERs. And Zack razed Fort Tamblin!" She looked at Vincent, some of the earlier anger coming back.

Vincent gave a low growl, flexing his gauntlet hand. "It was the Wutai war, was it not?" He said in the tone of a man who was losing his patience. "What is done in war is a very different thing from what is done in peace. He was an employee of Shinra, he would have to do as he was told."

"He could've left!" She made boxing motions. "He should've left! He could've helped us, maybe we wouldn't have lost!"

"Yuffie...." Vincent said lowly. "How old are you?"

She blinked at him. "Just turned twenty, pretty much."

"Then why, pray tell, do you not _act_ it?"

" _Excuse me_?!" Yuffie put her hands on her hips. "I think I have a right to--"

"You act little older than when we first met you, you are complaining about something that--I believe I recall Zack saying you were ten--happened when you were a _child_. I realize the hypocrisy considering my lamentations when I first joined all of you....however, I had been asleep for those years and so the event was still fresh in my mind. What is _your_ reasoning?"

Yuffie blinked a few times, thrown off as before by Vincent's uncharacteristic verbosity. After a few moments however, her eyes narrowed.

"You wouldn't understand." She said. "You couldn't possibly understand. Our honor....we're _disgraced_! We live in shame, our land owned even _now_ by Shinra!" She grit her teeth. "You can't imagine!"

Vincent looked away from her, silent. He could in fact understand quite well, but he knew he could never explain that to her either. The risk was simply too high. "That's not an excuse to act like a child." He said instead. "Do you not dishonor yourself by behaving thus?"

"See?! I knew you wouldn't get it!" She fumed at him.

"You are right." Vincent looked at her, red eyes brighter than usual. "I do not understand how it is in any way honorable to rant and rave like a child, to make yourself look incompetent and foolish. I do not understand how you believe you would be _worthy_ to take your father's place when you cannot even gain the respect of your friends."

"You.....you don't respect me.....?" Yuffie said in a soft voice.

"Your abilities, yes. Your behavior, no." Vincent looked away, but not before he saw the stunned hurt in her eyes. She was his friend, but his patience was much thinner than usual thanks to recent events and frankly the words needed to be said. She was not worthy to rule Wutai when her father passed on, and for reasons he never felt he could say, that greatly bothered him.

The rest of the walk back to the bar was done in silence.

\------------------------------------------------------------

"Gongaga, Cosmo Canyon, Rocket Town, North Corel and the Gold Saucer." Thessa took the headset off her ears and looked to Tseng on the other side of Rufus. "Those seem to be the confirmed locations. They will--generally speaking--seemingly be on Western for at least a day or two."

Tseng gave a slight, thoughtful nod. "They shouldn't be too difficult to keep track of then." His eyes slid over to Reno sitting beside Adrian and Rude in the front of the six-seated vehicle briefly before they focused on their employer. "What would you have us do, sir?" He inquired.

Rufus tapped his fingers on his arm, frowning thoughtfully. "Reeve doesn't answer to me." He began. Though he was funding the WRO and he knew Reeve knew that, as it was done anonymously, Rufus couldn't use that as leverage. "And Cloud and his friends certainly don't either. I'd much rather leave them to their own devices, but too many strange things are going on for me to ignore......Reno." Rufus waited for the redhead to turn around. "You seemed sympathetic to their cause earlier, correct?"

Reno frowned faintly. "You mean when I was fussing about Deepground?" He asked slowly, not liking where the conversation was going.

"That, and what you were discussing with Ms. Lockhart." Rufus confirmed. "I'd like you to follow them, observe them and if possible, join them."

" _Join_ them?!" Reno looked incredulous. "Sir, I don't mean to question you, but _why_?!"

Rufus tapped his fingers on his arm again lightly. "Because you're often underestimated. Vincent apparently has a low opinion of you" He ignored Reno's scowl at mention of the other man. "and therefore won't see you as capable of what I'm sending you to do. Just make sure you keep your temper in check."

Reno sighed softly. This was definitely going to be one of his tougher assignments. "I'll do my best, sir." He said with a two-fingered salute, then he turned around, plunked down again and crossed his arms to sulk to himself for a while.

\------------------------------------------------------------

 _We're going to start seriously owing Reeve if this keeps up._ Cloud thought as he waved to the departing vehicles Reeve had once more sent to transport his friends to the Squall outside Edge. He turned his attention to his friends, and then shifted his attention to the newest addition. He still had his doubts about Angeal. He gave off a sense very much like the one Vincent had when they'd first met the man, that of someone not comfortable in their own skin. The largest difference between Vincent and Angeal besides the obvious physical was that Vincent _had_ monsters while Angeal _was_ one....or rather, just wasn't completely human. With the Jenova in him, he could potentially go insane without any obvious trigger. Sephiroth had had a trigger yes, but what had driven Angeal to his actions before? What was driving Genesis now?

He heard the grinding gears as Cid, who had gone ahead to board, lowered the access ramp so Cloud could get his bike on board and he turned the engine on to drive the vehicle onto the ship. The sooner everyone got on to their business, the sooner he could get prepared for the stress of dealing with buyers and gawkers while selling his birds the next day. Boarding the Squall, he set about locking down his bike and then he looked around the expansive loading bay briefly before heading up to join the others.

"Alright Spiky," Cid addressed him. "where to first?"

Cloud strode over to the corner where the holographic globe was so he could activate it and manipulate as necessary to bring up the Western continent and its landmarks. He studied it for a few minutes, then sighed.

"We'll head to Gongaga first." He said. "Then if we have enough light, head to Cosmo Canyon and try to locate Red."

"Wait, Gongaga first?" Zack blinked at him. "Are you planning on just dumping me on my poor parents and flying off on me?"

"Well, it's getting late in the day, and Cid isn't a fan of flying at night."

".....Well then, don't fly!" Zack looked up at Cid standing at the wheel. "Park outside Gongaga for the night, then you can get everything else done in the morning and--"

"And dump all of us on your poor parents instead?" Angeal spoke up, arching a brow.

"Well, I wanted them to meet you anyway, Angeal....but why not?" Zack looked to Cloud now. "You can say how you found me and brought me home. Even if word got to them about my death, well....Shinra made those death reports all the time! It's easier than having to fly back again and I know there're sleeping rooms on the ship too, so...."

"That's true...." Cloud conceded, then sighed. "I'll call the hotel and let them know not to expect us tonight." He took out his cellphone and walked a bit away from the others to do so.

This seemed to be a signal for Yuffie, who decided to slink out of the room at this point. This in itself wasn't unusual as this would be a long flight and with her tendency to get airsick, she much rathered being alone in case she threw up. What _was_ unusual was the fact that Vincent watched her leave and then gave a soft sigh afterward. Though the two of them had arrived together, Yuffie had been considerably subdued and Tifa wondered what words her and Vincent had exchanged to make her behave in such a manner. Like almost all things concerning Vincent however, it wasn't a question that could easily be asked. There were however several other questions that Tifa had in mind now, some important to the immediate situation, and some not nearly so much so.

Tifa loosely crossed her arms as she continued thinking. Cloud was their leader, but he was at least partially distracted by having Sephiroth in his head and he wasn't usually one to go prying anyway. Being a private person himself, he wouldn't want to get into someone elses business unless he absolutely had to. Tifa however, felt that the 'absolutely had to' situation had already come. How had Genesis and Weiss gotten the jump on Vincent? Had they used Lucrecia to force him to comply? How did the two fight? What were their capabilities? Things they needed to know when they eventually caught up to the men. Things Vincent had not told them. Finally making her decision, Tifa moved from where she was standing over to where Vincent was, by the pilot's wheel.

"Vincent." She said softly to give him the illusion of privacy even though Cid was standing well within earshot. "We need to talk. About Weiss and Genesis....what happened that night."

Vincent tilted his head to look at her sideways from his greater height and stared for several seconds. He had a habit of doing this sometimes, mostly--Tifa supposed--when he didn't really want to talk and was hoping to intimidate you into backing off. She had no intention of doing so however and just stared back at him. After several moments of this, he gave a soft but heavy sigh and looked away.

"I let my emotions take control of me." He said quietly. "Genesis got me from behind while Weiss occupied me from the front. I was foolish, I was arrogant...." He gave a seemingly offhanded shrug. "I failed and lost utterly. What more is there to say?"

"How they fight, for one thing." Tifa responded, trying not to sound irritated. Was it a Turk thing to be evasive?! It certainly was annoying.

Vincent exhaled quietly and continued to look away, arms loosely crossed. "I couldn't tell you how Genesis fights. Weiss has two gunswords--katanas with single barrel rifles grafted to the backs. He is very quick with them. Only Cloud or Zack.....would likely be fast enough to keep up with him." He looked at Tifa more fully this time. "I wouldn't recommend Zack though." His glance slid away briefly to look at the man in question, who was standing in silence by Angeal. "He seems to have a gun phobia."

"He _was_ shot to death." She pointed out and shuddered, remembering the gruesome photo Tseng had shown them. "But...Vincent." She frowned up at him. "You said Cloud or Zack. What about you?"

".....Perhaps." Vincent looked away again. "I do not yet know to what extent I am limited by Chaos' lack."

"Mm...." Tifa continued to frown at him. It seemed that the stoic, older man was having some confidence issues. Coupled no doubt with the continuing guilt over failing to protect Lucrecia....well if he was anything like Cloud, he would ruminate on that until the chocobos came home. She wanted to say 'it's not your fault', except that it would be untrue. Even Vincent admitted going after Genesis alone had been foolish, and while it was true that there might not have been any way to save Lucrecia, there was no way to know that there hadn't been either.

"Don't dwell on it." She said quietly instead. "We'll catch them."

"....Mm, of course. Please do excuse me." Vincent pushed himself away from the wall to turn and make for the door.

Tifa watched him go and sighed quietly. Well, he was acting about as sociable as he'd been when they'd all first met him. Could have been worse, she supposed. She looked over toward Cloud then, who was just finishing up his phone call and was frowning.

"Cloud?" She called to him softly and moved away from the pilot wheel to approach him, reaching out to touch his arm. "Is something wrong?"

His bright mako blues slid over to look at her and then the blond sighed a soft but heavy sigh. "Nothing's wrong, at least as far as the hotel goes. They were happy I was canceling the bookings for today, actually. Some wedding party was scheduled and someone had messed up on reserving or something. There will be free rooms tomorrow though....but that worked out well."

Tifa arched a brow at him. "If that's true, then why are you scowling like that?"

Cloud gave another sigh and tapped the side of his head. "Just....this."

 _......Oh yeah._ "What's he saying?" Her tone almost turned hostile for a moment.

"No no," Cloud shook his head. "it's nothing like that. It's just that he's _there_ , that's all it is." He looked off out the window.

"......Can he hear everything?"

Cloud gave a slight nod. "......Yeah."

Tifa turned to look out the window herself and sighed heavily. "Great."

".....Sorry."

Tifa gave a soft snort. "It's not your fault."

"Well....that depends on how you look at it." Cloud glanced at her. "What did you say to Vincent?"

Tifa sighed heavily and pushed at her bangs, though they fell right back into place afterward. "I asked him what happened the night he'd gone to rescue Lucrecia. He wasn't interested in talking.....I can't say that I blame him. You and him both, you don't talk!" She punched his arm abruptly and gave an irritated huff. "You just keep things in until you explode from it!"

Cloud took the blow without protest, then sighed and looked away. "Maybe we don't want to burden our friends with our problems." He said after a few moments. "If we can't handle it ourselves--"

"Then you ask for help." Tifa finished for him, definitely irritated. "You kept your Geostigma to yourself, and now you hid Sephiroth. The world isn't your sole responsibility, but you seem to think that it is!"

Cloud resisted the urge to facepalm. What was with some women and dredging up old issues as if they hadn't already been beaten to death? "Sorry." He said, trying to end the conversation as simply as possible.

Tifa gave an exasperated sigh anyway and gave him a look. Cloud arched a brow at her in response, but then switched his attention when he saw Angeal heading over to them, Zack following with a frown. Cloud stiffened when Sephiroth gave a wordless hiss in his mind, but managed to resist the urge to bolt like a frightened chicobo.

"What was I hearing about Sephiroth?" The ex-First Class asked bluntly.

 _"Lie, Strife!"_ Sephiroth growled. _"He can't know!"_

Now wasn't that interesting? It was true that Sephiroth hadn't made Cloud lie about his presence to his friends--he had done that on his own. But now here he actively _didn't_ want someone to know. Tifa was looking at him, waiting to see what he'd say.

".....I told you my team and I had to hunt him down a few years ago." Cloud began after a few moments. "Well, uh....I....." He grit his teeth briefly. He wasn't exactly lying, simply opting to 'misunderstand' Angeal. Still, that didn't make it any easier to talk about. "He was....I...."

"Cloud was experimented on by Professor Hojo." Zack spoke up. "So was I.....it left Cloud a bit confused, and Sephiroth took advantage of that. Is that how it was, Cloud?"

"......Yeah.....like that." Cloud agreed lamely. He couldn't look at Tifa and it was hard not to look guilty. It certainly didn't help that Angeal towered over him and was scowling. Even Barret seemed like a teddy bear in comparison, and it was certainly easy to see how Angeal could have commanded respect within SOLDIER and even most likely outside of it.

"......I see." The man said at length, backing off slightly. After a few more moments, he turned to return to where he'd been standing before.

"Cloud?" Zack inquired softly.

"He wanted me to lie." Cloud whispered to him and Tifa, shaking his head slightly. "I don't know why."

"......I think I do." Zack glanced back at his once mentor and then looked back at Cloud. "Him and Angeal seemed to be pretty close, from what I'd gathered."

"Sephiroth had friends?" Tifa said in a somewhat dubious tone, crossing her arms.

Zack exhaled heavily. "Yeah, he did. Me for one."

"Fat lot of good that did Nibelheim." She muttered bitterly.

The two men stared at her and Zack rocked back on his heels. "......That's not fair."

Tifa gave him a bit of a glare, but then she pushed on past to leave the bridge.

"Zack." Cloud grabbed his arm when he tried to go after her. "Just let it go.....she lost everything on that day."

"She still blames me...." Zack muttered, drooping a bit. "Yuffie blames me for Fort Tamblin and Tifa blames me for Nibelheim...." He looked to the blond. "Do you blame me too, Cloud?"

"No Zack, I don't blame you." Cloud let go of him. "I was there too." He frowned a bit, furrowing his brow. "You.....told me what he was doing down there, but how could either of us have known it would end the way it did? It wasn't our fault, it wasn't _your_ fault. There was no way to know."

"Wasn't there?" Zack turned away bitterly. "Genesis went crazy, Angeal went crazy....stands to reason, doesn't it? Den of monsters...."

"Shinra was the monster." Cloud replied. "Leave it at that."

"......Guess so." Zack was still somewhat drooping when he moved away to rejoin Angeal and Cloud gave a soft sigh. As much as it was a relief to know he wasn't the only one with problems, a good number of his team--of his friends--were becoming upset for some reason or other and unhappy people didn't fight at their best, which they'd need to fight Genesis, Weiss and possibly even Genesis copies. Hopefully going to the Gold Saucer would help, but if it didn't.....

Cloud put a hand to his face and sighed again. Tifa was wrong. He couldn't go to anyone for help, because his friends needed him to be stronger than them.

\------------------------------------------------------------

It was early evening when Cid touched the Squall down on the outskirts of Gongaga and he'd just barely began to lower the exit ramp when Zack launched himself off the command deck, down the hall and all the way off the ship. They could see him running under the landing lights as he headed pell mell for his hometown.

Angeal shook his head in affectionate dismay as he watched his former student, the man who could seem so mature one second and the next he was bouncing around or running off.

"Damn puppy." He muttered to himself before he turned to follow after the others as they too exited the airship. He didn't particularly want to be there, he didn't know these people he found himself traveling with. But at the same time, these people were hunting Genesis. It was difficult to think about facing him again, but he had already run away once and....

And he didn't want to hurt Zack again. In the end, that's what it seemed to come down to. It had nearly broken his heart, looking up at Zack as he'd died and seeing the pain and betrayal in the younger man's eyes. Cloud had given him an interesting argument, but in the end he was staying for Zack. He knew he was a monster, but his sense of honor still remained. He couldn't turn his back on it again, not when he'd been given this second chance at life. Not when he had a chance to do the right thing this time.

He quirked a faint smile when he saw Zack waiting for them outside Gongaga. The younger man was swaying on his feet with such child-like eagerness it was almost impossible to remember that he was in fact in his early twenties. Once Zack deemed them close enough, he turned to continue on into Gongaga. He walked, but it was clear he wanted to run. Angeal couldn't blame him for that. If he was in Banora, the way it had been, with his mother alive and waiting for him....he would probably find it hard to keep from running too.

They followed Zack as he marched with purpose toward his house and watched as he stopped in surprise near it, staring at a woman hanging clothes up to dry. She had her back to him, her wavy auburn hair tied up in a ponytail and she was wearing a light green dress with baby blue trim.

"H-Hey...." Zack intoned after a few moments.

The woman paused mid motion and tilted her head slightly in puzzlement before turning. Her brown eyes widened as they focused on him. ".....Zack....?" She squeaked out quietly.

"I thought so!" Zack's face broke out in a grin and he strode over to pick the young woman up around the waist--ignoring her startled exclamation of protest--and swung her around before setting her down again. "Cissnei! So my parents really _did_ adopt you!"

Cissnei still appeared rather startled, but after a couple more moments her expression hardened and she brought her hand up to smartly slap him across the face. "You idiot!" She snapped while Zack jerked back in surprise. "You go missing for years, even the others were saying you're dead and now you go showing up right back here again! Are you _completely stupid_?!"

Zack rubbed his cheek, waiting out her tirade. "They're not hunting me anymore, Ciss." He told her quietly, seeming a bit hurt that she'd hit him. "Saw the Turks in Edge, they weren't interested." So she hadn't known for certain that he'd died, that was a relief. He was glad Cissnei hadn't seen that picture.

Cissnei frowned, but then reached out to pull his hand away from his face. ".....Your scar." She said slowly. "It's gone. How?"

"Oh....that.....well....." Zack grimaced. "Well, you....you know Hojo had Cloud and I....guess all that experimenting healed it up somehow....."

The young Turk arched a brow at him. "Mm hmm. I don't think so. You had that scar both times I saw you. If it was going to mysteriously heal up, it would've done it back then." She reached up to grab Zack by his ear. "So tell me the truth."

"Ow! H-Hey!" Zack did a bit of comical flailing while both Cloud and Angeal found themselves having to hide amused smiles. "Lemmie go! Cissnei!"

She gave his ear a good tug before she did so, and then gave him a stern look that reminded him so much of his mother that he almost cracked up in spite of the fact that she was angry with him. He rubbed his ear sorely instead and pouted at her. "I'm not sure you'll believe me...."

"Try me." She responded.

"Whoo boy...." Zack rubbed the back of his head now. "Okay.....well, I _did_ die back then....but Hojo made clones, and Aerith shoved me into one just recently. So.....brand new body!" He spread his arms out and smiled.

Cissnei stared at him for several moments, then sighed heavily and shook her head. "You're right, that's pretty unbelievable.....but I guess that would make sense. Hojo _is_ pretty depraved."

"Was." Cloud corrected her. "Hojo's been dead for several years now."

Cissnei gave a start, having been so focused on Zack that she hadn't noticed the others at all. When she looked over however, her eyes immediately focused on Angeal instead of Cloud and she did a double take. "What the....? Angeal?"

Angeal arched a brow at her in response and didn't answer her, not that it was neccessary to do so.

"See?" Zack said, as if Angeal's presence explained everything. "What'd I tell you? Clones."

Cissnei looked back at him, frowning slightly. "But why would Hojo....? No." She put a hand to her forehead briefly. "Never mind." She finally cracked a smile and hugged Zack. "Your parents are going to be so happy to see you....you big idiot."

"Er.....thanks?" Zack brought his arms up to hug her back, but she pulled away.

"They're probably still at the chocobo pasture. I'll go get them." And with that, Cissnei turned to head off.

"Popular with the ladies, I see." Cid commented with an amused smirk.

Zack looked back at them with a sheepish smile. "Eh heh....she's a friend of mine, a Turk. Or well.... _was_ a Turk, anyway. Apparently she's been somewhat out of the loop." He looked back at the abandoned laundry and decided that as his first act upon coming home that he would finish the job and proceeded to do so.

Cloud looked around himself at their surroundings. The village nestled near the edge of a tropical forest that didn't seem to have changed all that much since the last time he had been there four years ago. The houses were still just as small and cozy-looking, the people around them seeming just as cheerful and off in the near distance stood the rusted husk of the blown out mako reactor. He sighed quietly.

"They never even bothered to tear it down." He muttered. "....That figures...."

Cid and Angeal looked over and Cid--who like Cloud had seen the sight before--took a cigarette out of his pocket with a grunt. "Whatd'ya expect, kid? Shinra's useless like that."

Angeal frowned and looked at the grizzled pilot, but didn't say anything.

Zack also looked over, and as Cloud had, he sighed. "I should take a look at the graveyard." He said, unsurprised by the view of the destroyed reactor. It had been like that when he'd come here last time, it wasn't a new sight to him. "Graves means bodies, which means people who didn't go to the Lifestream. Probably died too quick to realize they were dead. Maybe I can convince some of them to move on."

Cloud gave him a weird look. "......You're going to go talk to dead people?"

"Well later. Gotta wait for my parents right now." Zack shrugged.

"You're a damn weird son of a bitch." Cid commented, pulling out a lighter. "Then again, I guess you aren't any weirder than Spiky is."

"Er...thanks." Zack arched a brow. "And if you're gonna smoke, could you take it somewhere else? I don't want to be breathing that stuff."

"Eh, you're as bad as my wife." Cid looked to Cloud. "Come over here, kid. I wanna talk to you."

Cloud arched a brow, but moved to follow Cid when the older man led a little away from Angeal and Zack's location and turned to him. "So. I'll head back to the ship, see what the others are up to and make sure nothing needs tuning. What'll you be doing?"

"Mm...." Cloud tried not to look surprised that he hadn't noticed the lack of his other friends. "I think maybe I'll circle around and go take a look at those chocobos Zack's family raises. See if they'll compare to mine."

"Hm." Cid lit up and took a thoughtful puff, stuffing the lighter away again. "By yourself? Is that a good idea?"

"A good...oh." Cloud sighed softly, realizing what his friend meant. "I'll be fine, Cid. He wants to get at Genesis too, so we're all in agreement."

"Uh huh." Cid crossed his arms and scowled at him, but after a few seconds he gave a heavy sigh and shook his head. "You're a stubborn son of a bitch, Cloud. Don't be afraid to let us know if something is going on though, alright?"

Cloud quirked a faint smile. "Of course, Cid. See you later." However, when Cid turned to go, Cloud's own feet didn't head in the direction Cissnei had gone in. Instead, he headed for the blown out reactor. He felt bad deceiving Cid, but he'd been feeling stifled ever since the fiasco at the Forgotten City and he needed some time to himself.

 _"The puppet seeks to be alone."_ Sephiroth stated on the obvious. _"And he even lies to do it. My my, how deceitful of you."_

"Don't you have anything better to do than make irritating comments?" Cloud responded aloud. "Also. I have a name. Use it."

Sephiroth manifested in his ghostly form, keeping stride with Cloud. He looked around himself briefly, then turned to look at Cloud from the side of his cat-pupiled eyes. He regarded the blond in silence for several moments before looking away again.

 _"Do you think there is anything to_ do _in that head of yours?"_ He gave Cloud a contemptuous glance before looking around again. _"Watch your memories? A movie I've already seen. Alter them? No point, it's unlikely to make you any more interesting."_

"You could always try for civilized conversation." Cloud didn't even seem phased at having the ghost of his enemy walking beside him and only appeared annoyed at having to deal with him. "I'm sure the idea isn't a completely foreign concept to you."

Sephiroth gave a light snort. _"Sarcasm and a backbone. You certainly have come a long way from the cowardly Infrantryman who hid underneath his helmet."_

Cloud gave a heavy sigh. "Throwing Nibelheim at me, huh? How many times are you going to poke at that before you realize it doesn't hurt anymore?"

 _"It hurts you."_ Sephiroth disagreed. _"It will always hurt you. Helpless to put out the fires, helpless to save anyone."_

"I took you out." Cloud replied, stepping into the reactor. "That's why you can't let it go. It's not about me, it's about the fact that a 'cowardly Infantryman' took you down." He tilted his head to look at Sephiroth sideways, but then froze. In his preoccupation with the conversation, he hadn't noticed what--or rather _who_ \--was crouched on the remains of a rusted wall.

"You're either on one of those new handless phones, or you're having a _very_ engaged conversation with yourself." Genesis tilted his head, black wing rustling. "I wonder which one it is?"

Sephiroth was still standing there, plain in Cloud's view, but Genesis apparently couldn't see him. _Maybe Zack was right, and only those who have died can see him._ "Genesis." Cloud acknowledged the man coldly. "What are you doing here?"

Genesis hopped down to the floor. "My soul, corrupted by vengeance hath endured torment, to find the end of the journey in my own salvation....and your eternal slumber."

 _"The middle of Act Four."_ Sephiroth said in irritation, curling his lip. _"He hasn't become any more original."_

Genesis, unaware of Sephiroth's presence, drew his sword and pointed it at Cloud. "This reactor was destroyed years ago by your old compatriots. I'm curious as to what use it might be to you now. If you answer me quickly enough, I might even consider giving you a merciful death."

"My....old compatriots?" Cloud echoed cluelessly. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Genesis moved his sword to balance on his shoulder and began to pace, keeping his eyes on Cloud as he did so. "Let's see....what were you saying? 'Cowardly Infantryman'? So you must have been one of the moles." His expression was thoughtful.

"What 'mole'?!" Cloud was getting annoyed, but also somewhat concerned. He might have seemed crackers talking to someone Genesis couldn't see, but Genesis was _definitely_ off his rocker, and Cloud didn't have any way of defending himself as Merciless was still on the airship. "I don't--"

"But what I want to know is;" Genesis stopped and pointed his weapon at Cloud again. "what you're up to now. Shinra Corporation is all but sunk--congratulations on that by the way--so what's left? What was your plan for that WEAPON?"

Cloud stared at him in absolute bewilderment while Sephiroth stared in contempt and disgust. What the _hell_ was Genesis going on about?! _"Any idea?"_ He questioned Sephiroth.

 _"He's a delusional idiot."_ Sephiroth snarled, shaking his head. _"But it was the original AVALANCHE that had purportedly destroyed this reactor."_

If the situation had been less serious, Cloud would have facepalmed. "We're not AVALANCHE." He stated, giving Genesis a deadpan look. "We're WRO."

"A name change makes no difference." Genesis gave a shrug. "Now are you going to answer my questions, or not?"

Even though he had a sword pointed at him, Cloud pinched his brow and gave a heavy sigh. "You're insane. It's a little late to pretend you're one of the good guys at this point."

"I see." Genesis gave a put upon sigh. "It's time for your eternal slumber then."

 _"Cloud!"_ Sephiroth snapped. _"Move!"_

Cloud launched himself backward, barely avoiding the downward swing of Genesis's sword that could have concievably cleaved him from shoulder to groin. He kept hopping backward as Genesis continued to swing at him and Cloud ended up grabbing a coolant pipe half detached from the wall to wrench free and block the next blow.

"Mako eyes...." Genesis commented with a note of surprise, noticing now from their proximity. "You're SOLDIER...." He backed away, only to swing back at Cloud more viciously and bite deep into the rusted metal of the pipe. "Traitor!"

"You're a fine one to talk about traitors!" Cloud threw the pipe at Genesis and dodged aside. He knew he couldn't keep avoiding him and he glanced up at the high walls of the reactor that were open to the sky. Cloud could easily jump that height, but Genesis was slashing at him so quickly all he had time to do was dodge. Worse, he was being herded into a corner and he knew it. It would only be a matter of moments before he wouldn't be able to roll out of the way anymore.

Agony. Genesis's blade bit deeply into his side and Cloud let out an involuntary gasp, though it was followed by a choked scream when the sword plunged into his chest and was jerked cruelly upward, biting into muscle and bone and yanking Cloud briefly off his feet before he collapsed bonelessly to the floor.

 _"You're going to die."_ It was stated, a fact. Behind Genesis, Sephiroth stood. His expression was calm, watching as Genesis began to push the now rune-activated blade deeper into the blond's chest, causing white flashes of pain with every inch, not allowing Cloud the chance to recover enough to move. _"He's going to kill you, and it seems he's going to make it slow."_

Cloud couldn't have responded if he wanted to, All he knew was the nameless agony. The searing of his flesh as the blade burned and cauterized, cooking him from the inside out. His eyes turned sightless and then the life faded from them entirely as the blade touched his heart and boiled it as it sliced it in half.

Sephiroth's lip curled up in disgust when he saw Cloud's eyes glaze in death. What a pitiful end to a pitiful enemy. He watched Genesis straighten up, pulling his sword free and dousing the runes with a gesture and he frowned. No. It _was_ a pitiful death, and that bothered the once General. Was it because it hadn't been _his_ sword slicing into flesh and bone, ending the life of his most stubborn enemy? No, that wasn't it. Was it the swiftness of it, that Cloud hadn't suffered long enough? No, it wasn't that either.

And then it struck him. It hadn't been a fair fight. Genesis had a sword, while Cloud had been unarmed. Cloud had been Infantry, trained to use a gun. SOLDIERs were honed so that their very bodies were weapons and they could fight with or without their swords, while Infantry--at least so far as Sephiroth understood it--being more common and therefore dispensable to the company, were nearly helpless if they lost their primary weapon. Admittedly Genesis had thought Cloud was SOLDIER from his eyes, but that didn't change the fact. Cloud was self-taught with a sword and he didn't have the skills to defend himself properly without one. The battle had been fixed in Genesis' favor from the start.

 _"Damnit."_ Sephiroth growled before vanishing. It seemed that Angeal's honor lectures had gotten more into his head than he'd thought.

Genesis had turned away and was preparing to spread his wing to leave when he heard shifting behind himself and he turned back to see Cloud's body moving. The movements were jerky and slow, blood gurgling from both the chest wound and his mouth. He shouldn't have been alive, he _wasn't_ alive....and yet, somehow he was moving.

Like a clumsy marionette, Cloud's hand moved jerkily, fingers twitching. The hand found his pocket, though it took three tries to get the digits inside to pull out a Phoenix Down. As Genesis watched in morbid interest, the magic was cast and a shuddering breath was taken as damaged organs were healed enough for life to be restored. Cloud then moved to rise to his feet, but the eyes that met Genesis' once he had done so were slit-pupiled and green.

"Well now." Genesis commented softly. "That's a new one."

Cloud's lips curled into a cold smile and he brought his left hand to his chest. "Curaga." He muttered rasply, voice much deeper than it should have been. Health then restored, he straightened up fully and shook himself out. "Idiot...." His mouth formed the word, but it was a different voice speaking.

Genesis' eyes narrowed. ".....You....who are you....?"

In answer, a black wing sprouted from Cloud's back and swept once across his body. When it was folded back once more, Sephiroth had taken the blond's place. "Genesis." He said simply, acknowledging the other man.

Genesis stared in complete startlement. The spiky-haired blond had just transformed into Sephiroth and it took him a few moments to get over his shock. Once he had done so however, he straightened his posture slightly.

"Well then, Sephiroth." He half-sneered. "It seems you are the ultimate monster, indeed."

Sephiroth's lips quirked slightly in a mirthless smile. "Perhaps I am." He agreed. "You never could match up, could you? You can't even manage to degrade properly."

Genesis shrugged. "The Goddess granted me another chance, and I follow her will now."

A silver brow raised. "....Interesting." Masamune appeared in his hand and shook his head. "I can't believe I'm fighting for this forsaken world." He gave a soft sigh and launched himself forward to engage Genesis, who unprepared for the charge, barely brought his sword up in time. Sephiroth pressed his advantage and for several moments all Genesis could do was block before he recovered and was able to retaliate.

"Damn you!" Genesis hissed, calling forth fire in his left hand to throw point blank at Sephiroth. "Why are you helping the terrorists?!"

Sephiroth jumped into the air to avoid the magic, spreading his wing to remain airborne. Staring down at Genesis with obvious contempt, he raised his right hand and magic began to form in his hand. Genesis only had a few moments to acknowledge this before Ultima was being thrown at him.

There was an explosion, but Sephiroth knew better than to think that the attack had in any way significantly harmed his opponent and so he remained where he was, waiting for Genesis to show himself. To his surprise however, Genesis darted out of the obscuring smoke _away_ from him and seemed to be trying to escape.

 _Where is he going?_ The once General dove after the man who had betrayed them all. Genesis leapt into the air, his own ebony wing spreading and he spun around to block Masamune. The two stared at one another, slit green pupils to round blue ones.

"Why are you helping the terrorists?!" Genesis hissed again. "Answer me!"

"If I was helping terrorists, I'd be helping you." Sephiroth responded. "Though I commend you for your efforts, world destroying is what _I_ do." Confusion flickered across Genesis's face, while a cold smile spread across Sephiroth's. "Ironic that I seem to be fighting for its preservation now. Mother would be disappointed." He backwinged, but only to dive back at Genesis and attempt to ram him into the ground.

"Fira!" Genesis threw the spell point blank into Sephiroth's face, temporarily blinding him and he side-winged to get out of the way of the charge. He stared at Sephiroth with a look of bewilderment on his face, and then he turned to make an escape.

Sephiroth shook his head out to clear his vision, taking a few moments to locate Genesis again. He gave a low hiss under his breath and made to pursue when pain lanced through his chest, sending him hard into the ground. He knelt there, hand over his heart and panted heavily. Cloud's body seemed too weak to sustain him, and if he kept trying to push it at this point he would be likely to destroy it.

"Damn....weakling...." He snarled under his breath before his eyes closed and he collapsed, Cloud's body returning to its natural state upon unconsciousness.

\------------------------------------------------------------

"It sure is taking Cissnei a while to get back." Zack commented, squinting off in the direction she'd gone. "I don't remember the chocobo pasture being _that_ far away. I hope everything's alright."

"It's probably quite the shock for them." Angeal intoned softly, arms loosely crossed. "Telling them their son had returned from the dead."

"Guess it would be." Zack agreed. He looked over at his mentor and friend, and after a few moments he licked his lips. "I'm sure it wasn't because of you." He said softly. "She loved you....you were her son. There's no way she could have been ashamed of you."

Angeal flinched and his eyes hardened. "She was ashamed." He said. "Perhaps not of me, perhaps of the experiments she allowed to be done to her to create me. None the less, she could no longer live in dishonor....and so she ended her life. Now we're ending the conversation, Zack. Don't talk about my mother again."

Zack bowed his head, but when a shadow passed overhead he looked up again and his jaw dropped open upon seeing Genesis flying overhead. He was flying quickly and probably hadn't even noticed them, but what was he even doing there?!

The sound of a large wing being spread caused Zack's attention to shift again in time to see Angeal's white wing unfurl, and then the older man had launched himself into the air after his childhood friend.

"No!" Zack leapt at him, but Angeal was already too high. "Wait! Come back! Angeal! ANGEAL!!!"

Angeal paid no heed to the other man's calls and only coaxed the wing of this clone body to give longer strokes, faster speed. He would catch up with Genesis within a couple of minutes, but what he would do once he got there....that was unknown.

Zack stared after them until they were out of sight, and then he plucked a white feather off his shoulder to twirl it slowly between his fingers. "Angeal..." He muttered, staring at it with eyes turning watery. _I thought I could trust you....please Angeal, please don't betray me again....I don't want to fight you._ He squeezed his eyes shut, but then gave a jerk when he heard voices calling to him and he turned to see his parents hurrying toward him with Cissnei trailing behind. He hastily dropped the feather and wiped his eyes, forcing a smile for two of the most precious people to him. However, he found it hard right then to feel any joy at seeing his parents when it felt like there was cold lead sitting in his gut.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cloud's [swords](http://i48.tinypic.com/dlkl51.jpg).
> 
> Crossposted to [DeviantArt](http://naosuloff.deviantart.com/gallery/34469925) and [FF.net](http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5454968/8/The_Planets_Enemy).


	9. Breaking Point

The light flicked on, causing Vincent to have to squint.

"Thought I might find you here!" Cid crowed in victory before stepping into the storage room. "For claiming you aren't a goddamn vampire, you sure do like the dark."

Vincent gave a grunt and dislodged himself from where he'd been seated between two empty storage crates. "I see better in the dark than you do." He replied, taking a seat on one. "Dark for you is not so dark for me."

"Heh. Fair enough." Cid stepped over to sit on another crate nearby. "But you're still hiding away, Vince. You've gone and reverted and I admit it's got me concerned."

Vincent tilted his head to let his hair fall across an eye and regarded Cid with the other. ".....I appreciate that you are all concerned for me." He said after a few moments. "But bombarding me with concern and questions is doing the opposite of making me feel better."

"Well hiding away in the dark sure isn't helping you much either." Cid pointed out. "So you've just gotta be patient. You waited thirty something goddamn years to pop off Hojo, so wait a few days more and we'll pop off these sons of bitches too!"

Vincent regarded Cid in silence for nearly a minute before he spoke again. For others, such a long stretch of silence would be uncomfortable, but Cid had been around Vincent often enough to know to wait them out. Finally, Vincent gave a heavy sigh and averted his gaze.

"Yes," He said. "of course you're right."

Cid gave a heavy sigh and sat back on his box. "Goddamn emo." He half-muttered. "Do you think Lucrecia would want you wallowing in self-pity?"

Vincent gave another heavy sigh, softer than the last and he looked back at his friend from the corner of his eyes. "Anyone else referring to me as 'emo' would soon be making intimate relations with my gauntlet, you realize."

Cid gave a snort. "You _are_ a goddamn emo! Lookit you, hiding away in the dark, going on and on about things you can't help." He leaned forward slightly. "You and Cloud, you both hang on to things too goddamn long!"

"Says the man who verbally abused for years the woman he's now married to because she prevented him from going into space." Vincent pointed out.

Cid sat back again, shaking his head slightly. "Okay, good point." He agreed. "Won't deny I was an asshole and don't deserve Shera, but I'm making up for that. You though." He pointed at Vincent. "You go on about stuff already done! You made mistakes, but you've gotta move on or you'll just be stuck in a goddamn rut!"

Vincent shut his eyes, pulling up the memory of a short conversation he'd had with Reeve a while ago. He'd told Reeve then he'd just been a stone in the river of time, but that his friends had shown him he had to move ahead. He'd told Reeve that, but now Cid was making him realize that he had again become that stone. If he didn't change that, he wouldn't be any good to anyone.

"Cid." He opened his eyes and straightened up to look at him fully. "You're right. Lucrecia wouldn't want me to dwell on this. She saved my life all those years ago, and I'm giving her poor repayment now....I can't make up for failing her, but I can at least try to stop more death."

"Hm, well it's a start at least." Cid stood up and clapped a hand on Vincent's shoulder. "When this is all done, we'll have to go celebrating."

"Hm." Vincent offered a faint flicker of a smile. "Save your drunken antics for after your new baby is born. That is worth more celebration."

"Can't deny that, I guess." Cid gave his friend's shoulder a squeeze and stepped away. "Don't keep holing up, Vince. You miss out on things by being such a goddamn recluse!" He turned to leave on that note, feeling in a bit of a better mood than he'd started with. One less person to worry about.

\------------------------------------------------------------

Cloud opened his eyes to stark white.

He stared blankly for several moments before he slowly cast his eyes around and moved to sit up. He appeared to be situated on a bed, the same bleached white as the walls and ceiling. His clothing too was that same white. The lack of color was almost painful and he rubbed his eyes before taking a second look around, his eyes desperately seeking a break in the sterility and finding it in a black and silver blob that he couldn't immediately make sense of until it moved and green, slit pupiled eyes focused on him.

"Sephiroth?" He questioned in confusion.

Sephiroth's lip quirked up in a sardonic smile and he spread out his right leg, drawing the left up to his chest and resting his arm on it. "Cloud." He responded calmly.

Cloud rose off the bed and did a slow circle, looking at the featureless room. "Where are we? And how are _we_ anywhere?!"

Sephiroth gave a mirthless chuckle, his eyes emerald ice. "You're intruding on _my_ part of _your_ mind."

Cloud turned to face him. ".....What?"

"Hmph." Sephiroth flicked his wrist and Cloud's clothing morphed into the modified SOLDIER uniform he had worn while tracking Sephiroth across the Planet and then into his Infantry uniform. "Ah. That's better."

Cloud looked down at himself, and then at Sephiroth. "Are you _done_?!" He asked acidly. "Or are you going to make me look sixteen next? And anyway," He continued, raising his voice when Sephiroth started laughing. "what do you mean _intruding_?!"

"Exactly what it sounds like." Sephiroth stated, still amused by Cloud's irritation. "I had to reside _somewhere_ , and this is what came of it."

"Fantastic...." Cloud tugged at the green collar and gave a soft but irritated sigh, wishing he could figure out how Sephiroth had put him in the uniform so he could take himself _out_ of it. "And now I'm stuck in here, I suppose?"

"Fortunately no." Sephiroth made a sweeping gesture toward the far wall and a brown, wooden door appeared. "Leave through that, and it should put you right back where you should be."

".....Good." Cloud headed toward it, but then he paused and put a hand to his chest. "Wait....what happened to me? The last thing I remember, Genesis...."

"Ah yes." Sephiroth said in a conversational tone. "You should probably buy a new Phoenix Down or two and pre-cast it. I helped you this time, but the next time I might not be so generous in reviving you."

Cloud slowly turned back to look at him, expression carefully blank. "You used a Phoenix Down on me." He said, each word coming out measured.

"That's right."

Cloud considered that, then softly exhaled. "What then? I don't remember anything."

"You wouldn't." Sephiroth smoothly got to his feet. "You ended up in here, and _I_ fought Genesis." He gave a very nasty smile then. "You _do_ have my cells, after all."

Cloud couldn't quite suppress the shudder, but then he shook his head. "Were you able to defeat him?"

Sephiroth's smile faded into an irritated frown. "No. He ran with his metaphorical tail between his legs." He paused, and then began to slowly pace. "He said some rather interesting things, I admit. Insisting you and your friends are terrorists. He almost seemed to be confused when I pointed out who's side I would be on if I was currently following Mother's wishes."

"Jenova's not your mother." Cloud said in irritation before he quickly switched back to the topic at hand. "So what are you saying, exactly?"

"What I'm saying," Sephiroth continued to slowly pace from the wall to the bed and back again. "is that if his shows of emotion and accusations weren't mere theatrics, he has no idea what's really going on. Although." He stopped and did a military turn to face Cloud. "Considering the things he's done before, I highly doubt he's innocent."

"Like would know like, wouldn't it?"

" _I_ , Strife, have _very_ little in common with Genesis." Sephiroth began pacing again. "He was always the jealous imitator, the unwelcome tagalong. I put up with him because he was Angeal's childhood companion. He should never have left Third Class. He was too unstable, but he was also too strong and Angeal deserved to be First....jealous brat that Genesis was....." He paused briefly, then continued with fervor. "If not for Angeal, I would have had that idiot expelled from SOLDIER entirely. He had no place among us."

Cloud watched him pace, noting the clear agitation. _Hit a nerve, did I?_ "Let's assume for a minute that he wasn't trying to confuse me, that he felt his accusations about AVALANCHE were genuine. _If_ that's true, he could make a valuable ally. He could help us stop Weiss."

"Don't be daft, Strife!" Sephiroth shot him an annoyed glance, then continued pacing. "Genesis is a traitor, and he seemed more than willing to destroy the world before--admittedly far less successfully--but regardless."

Cloud huffed out a breath. _Well, calling me by my last name is better than calling me 'puppet'._ He had to admit, even though it was starting to grate his nerves. "Like knows like." He said again. "And this isn't Shinra. I'll talk to Zack and Angeal, ask them about Genesis. If nothing else, they might be able to help puzzle out what he's up to."

Sephiroth glanced at him again and stopped pacing. He looked around the featureless room, expression slowly morphing into hate. Whatever thought process had started, it didn't seem like it would end well.

Cloud eyed him warily. _I need to remember....no matter how sane he might act at moments, he's not._ "Sephiroth." He was ignored. "Sephiroth!" The walls started shaking.

Cloud grit his teeth, his head starting to feel like someone had put it in a pressure vice. Whatever Sephiroth was doing, it was starting to hurt and had to be stopped.

He nervously fiddled with the collar of the Infantry uniform, but then paused. Yes....maybe that was the answer.

"General Sephiroth!"

The walls stopped shaking and Sephiroth fixed those unnatural cat-slit eyes on him. His expression was borderline hostile, but at least the pressure was easing back up.

Cloud stared at him, surprised that it had actually worked. He quickly regained his composure however and straightened up. "I'll talk to Zack and Angeal about Genesis." He said again, not sure if Sephiroth had registered his previous words. He half turned to go, but then turned back when something abruptly occurred to him.

"Sephiroth..." He said slowly. "What is this place to you?"

Calm once more, Sephiroth arched a pale brow at the blond. "This?" He gave a contemptful gesture to their surroundings. "This is where I spent the first fifteen years of my life."

Cloud stared at him for several moments in surprise before taking a slow look around the room again. The starched white surroundings practically oozed 'sterile'. If Sephiroth hadn't over-simplified things, then this was really all there had been.

There was the bed, simple and straight without a blanket and a raised part at one end of the mattress presumably meant to serve as a place to rest ones head. Near it was a small dresser where clothing would likely have been stored and a door in the back wall that Cloud guessed was probably a closet even though it looked more like the door to another room. Everything was the same color, with no variation in hue whatsoever. Though the room had space for far more things, that was all there was.

Cloud's eyes slid back to Sephiroth, who was watching him impassively. "This....was all? And it was....all the same color....?"

"Oh yes." Sephiroth's tone held the slightest hint of contempt and hatred, though his expression itself seemed to be calm. "Everything was white, right down to my clothing. I suppose Hojo wanted everything to match my hair as best as it could." His lip curled. "For fifteen years, this and the lab. The lab and this. The entirety of my world. Books were all that told me of the outside, of what other, _normal, ordinary_ people got to experience." He started to pace. "But not I. I was special. I was meant for greater things. My potential unimaginable, and yet still a disappointment." The bed exploded into nothing, then promptly re-formed itself. The dresser did the same thing. "SOLDIER finally allowed for some normalcy, a life outside these walls. And friends, kindred." He gave a broken laugh. "How Hojo _hated_ Angeal and Genesis! He called them 'throwbacks', though I couldn't understand why at the time." He stopped pacing to put a hand to his face and laugh more. "That arrogant fool."

 _I am_ so _sorry I asked._ Cloud felt a bit like trapped prey, afraid to move and get Sephiroth's attention. Still, though this information was coming to him from the mouth of an unhinged man, it gave Cloud an insight into why Sephiroth had never seemed comfortable around most people and why people said he was aloof. Cloud had thought he'd had a bad childhood, but it had been nothing compared to the man he'd onced idolized.

Sephiroth abruptly fell silent and looked at Cloud intently. ".....It's time for you to go, Strife." The room seemed to tilt and Cloud found himself falling, plummeting through the wooden door that swung open for him into black.

He woke up on his stomach, neck twisted uncomfortably to the side and with a buzzing in his pocket he realized moments later was his cellphone. He sat up unsteadily and reached down to pull it out of his pocket and answer it.

"Cloud!" Cid's voice came through the other end, irritated. "Where the hell've you been?! I've been calling you for the past five minutes!"

".....Sorry." Cloud intoned. "Did something happen?" Did Genesis attack his friends, or maybe the village?

"You're damn right something happened! Shera's gone into labor!"

Relief flowed through Cloud, followed by a different kind of trepidation. "Flying back to Rocket Town, then?"

"Damn straight. I'll come back for you when I can."

".....Right. You've taken the others?"

"Yeah, 'cept for that friend of yours and his buddy."

"Alright." Cloud moved to get to his feet, stifling a groan when stiff muscles protested. "I'll see you sometime tomorrow then." He paused briefly. "Congratulations, Cid."

"Haw. Don't congratulate me, Shera did most of the work. 'Sides, my brat ain't born yet."

"I'm eager to hear if it's a boy or a girl." Cloud began walking slowly back and forth to limber up again. "If it's the middle of the night, send me a text about it."

"I will." There was excitement and worry creeping into the grizzled pilot's voice, though he hung up the phone before anything more could be said. Cloud tucked his cell away and continued his slow pacing, rolling his neck and rubbing it to get it to loosen it up too.

He didn't remember ever feeling like this other times that Phoenix Downs had been used on him, but maybe it had more to do with having been lying on the cold ground for who knew how long rather than having been resurrected.

It took several minutes for him to feel steady on his feet again, and once he did he turned himself toward the town to go locate Zack's house. It was the only place he could go now, after all.

\------------------------------------------------------------

Zack couldn't deny that he was happy to see his parents again, happy to see Cissnei so ingrained in Gongagan life and a part of his family. Couldn't deny his elation at being taken to the chocobo field to see the chicobos that had recently hatched.

But he also couldn't deny his worry for Angeal.

He sat at the dinner table now, regaling his parents and Cissnei with SOLDIER antics and pranks. His tone was enthusiastic, his gestures broad. Though he spoke with great zeal however, he felt like he was sitting outside himself, hearing someone else tell these stories with his voice and body. His parents didn't seem to notice this detachment, but from the look in Cissnei's eyes--even as she giggled at his stories--told Zack very clearly that the young Turk wasn't fooled. Even if she hadn't seen Genesis, even if she hadn't seen Angeal fly off, she still knew he'd been standing with Zack. Once dinner was through--Zack hadn't eaten very much of it, though he'd blown that off by saying he'd had a late lunch--she pulled him outside.

"Zack." She said softly, tugging him out of the house and around to the clothesline. "What happened? Where did Angeal go?"

Zack wilted immediately and looked off toward the graveyard he'd earlier said he would be visiting. After a few moments of silence, he gave a heavy sigh.

"Genesis." He began and paused briefly when he heard her intake of breath. He gave her a few moments, and then continued. "He was here, and he flew right over Angeal and I. Angeal took off after him...."

Her hand lightly touched his arm and he slowly turned his head to look at her, his dull blue meeting her concerned brown.

"Zack." She said softly, tightening her fingers on his bicep while continuing to make eye contact. "Don't let this destroy you. I haven't forgotten how you were after Modeoheim....I don't want you to end up like that again."

Zack hissed lowly through his teeth, giving his arm a shake to dislodge her hand before he reached back for the Buster sword. His parents were wary of it, uncertain of its size, but they hadn't asked him to do anything more than take it off when he sat at the table. He pulled it into full view now and pressed his forehead against it for several moments, collecting his focus just as Angeal had seemingly used it for the same purpose. He took several slow deep breaths with his skin pressed to the cold steel before he straightened up.

"This." He held the sword up one-handed. "This represents his honor, and he wouldn't accept it back when I offered it to him." He lowered the blade down until it lightly touched the grass and he lowered his head to continue looking at it. "He doesn't have a weapon, Cissnei. What if he chased Genesis to fight him?" His voice hitched. "He just came back....I can't....I can't lose...."

Cissnei looked at him silently. She didn't know what to say, or if there was anything she _could_ say. "How is he back?" She asked instead, voice barely above a whisper as if to give Zack a chance to pretend he hadn't heard her. It was perhaps not the best question to be asking right then, but with Zack _and_ Angeal clones, she had to wonder what was going on. "And you mentioned Aerith? How did she--"

"Aerith's dead." Zack cut in bitterly. He put the sword on his back again and turned completely away from Cissnei to fix his eyes on the middle distance. "And as for Angeal...a piece of a Cetra relic did _that_ trick." Not bothering to mention that the same relic in its original state had been the catalyst for his own revival.

Cissnei frowned. "Aerith's dead....a Cetra relic....and Genesis is flying around. Zack, I think you'll have to start at the beginning. There's a lot I don't understand."

Zack shook his head. "The story's too long, and I wasn't around for all of it." He loosely crossed his arms and shifted his eyes to look off in the direction the Squall had been parked just outside the village. "Where's Cloud?" He muttered then. "Where are the others? It's been at least two hours now....they didn't strand me here, did they?"

"I'm sure they wouldn't do that." Cissnei tried to sound reassuring, but Zack didn't seem convinced. She stepped forward to put a hand on his arm again.

"Come on." She coaxed. "Fife made pie earlier, we should go have some before your father eats it all."

Zack looked at her wearily, but then he sighed and attempted a smile that didn't manage to reach his eyes and so fizzled out quickly. "Sorry I'm being such a downer." He half-muttered, averting his gaze again. "I've got a lot on my mind."

"Your poor brain is gonna pop out and run for the hills if you keep thinking so hard." Cissnei lightly teased. When he didn't even react, she gave a heavy sigh and tugged on his arm. "Come on, Zack. Let's go have some dessert."

"I'm not really in the mood..."

 _Oh for--!_ Cissnei made an exasperated noise and tugged harder, even though she had no hope of budging him. After further attempts to get him to move failed, she gave up and gave his arm a half-hearted swat.

"Fine." She said, planting her hands on her hips. "If you insist on being like this, then maybe you should tell me about recent events. I think I have a right to know what Genesis is up to at the very least!"

In this she had a point and Zack looked up at the sky for inspiration. "We don't know what he's doing," He began after a few moments. "but we know it's definitely not good. He and Weiss have already....Cissnei?" He belatedly registered a sharp intake of breath and looked at her, then frowned.

Cissnei was staring at him, her eyes seemingly as wide as they could get with pupils so large her eyes looked black instead of hazel. Her hands had both flown up to cover her mouth as well and she seemed to have lost all color to her face.

"Cissnei...?" His puzzled frown abruptly grew deeper and his eyes narrowed. "That means something to you." He said warily. "You know who Weiss is."

"I-I've only heard of him." She stammered shakily. "But he's the leader of the Tsviets....." She groaned. "Oh Zack....him and the other Tsviets....they have his cells! Genesis's cells!" She slowly lowered her hands, expression still fearful. "But it's just Weiss? Weiss and Genesis?"

"And Genesis copies." Zack was looking at her intently. "What do you know about Weiss? And why would he have Genesis cells? Genesis was considered a failure."

She shook her head, pressing the palms of her hands into her eyes. "I don't know....I'm only repeating what I heard....

Zack grabbed her upper arms and shook her. "Well, what did you hear, then?!" He let go of her just as suddenly as he'd grabbed her and turned away, shifting his weight from foot to foot and gripping his own upper arms. "Cloud said Vincent knows about Deepground, but the guy hasn't really _said_ all that much!"

".....I don't know very much." Cissnei began slowly. Deepground's existence was top secret, but considering that Zack's friends already knew about it, the whole point seemed somewhat moot. "But do you remember hearing about SOLDIER Unit Thirteen, Ragnarok?"

"Yeah..." Zack said slowly. "They were lost on some mission, right?"

"Technically that's true." Cissnei agreed. "The mission they were sent on though was to Deepground, and it was intended to fail." She nodded slightly to his shocked expression. "President Shinra was very ruthless. He even had recruits from SOLDIER and war conscripts sent down there."

"War....conscripts....." Zack said slowly. "But the only war fought since SOLDIER was established was....it was Wutai...." He gave a shudder as color drained from his face.

Cissnei put a hand on his arm and circled around to look up at him. "Zack, listen. I don't know all that went down there, there's no way I could....but from what I heard, ideas like 'morality' and 'compassion' didn't exist. Men, women and children....all were subjected to experiments worse than anyone except maybe Hojo could have possibly come up with. You won't be able to reason with Weiss."

"Yeah....I don't really want to, anyway." _But what about Genesis? What about Angeal?_ He didn't want to think any more and he shook his head with a groan.

"Zack?"

Zack and Cissnei looked over as Cloud stepped out of the darkness into the pool of light given off by the house. Zack offered his friend a slight smile.

"Hey, man." He greeted him half-heartedly. "Where you--oh hey, you okay?" Zack's expression turned concerned. "You look like hell."

"Hm?" Cloud looked down at himself and the dirt and blood on his clothing. "Oh....no, I'm fine." He made an attempt to brush himself off, but then he looked up at Zack. "I do need to talk to you and Angeal though."

"Oh....well...." Zack sagged a bit. "You'll have to take a rain check on Angeal.....Genesis flew by, and he took off after him...."

".....You said we could trust him, Zack." Cloud said quietly.

"We--he--Angeal wouldn't--!" Zack turned away, fingers digging into his hair. "He has too much honor, he won't side with them! No _way_ would he side with them!" He made a cut off motion with his arm. "No _way_!"

Cloud frowned, bothered by his friend's adamant denial. "Zack...." He said slowly. "Genesis thinks we're AVALANCHE. If he can convince Angeal of that...."

Zack turned to look at him, his expression so bitter and _hostile_ that Cloud took a step back in surprise. The blond couldn't remember ever seeing him wear such an expression and he felt a flicker of doubt that 'you can't clone a soul' was really true.

"But you were, weren't you?" Zack said softly, turning fully to face his friend, arms dropping to his sides. His eyes were narrowed and glowing softly. "You said 'we're not AVALANCHE anymore' at Aerith's resting place. If I have to fight Angeal again because he thinks he was sided with terrorists, who's to say he's even wrong?"

Cissnei silently backed away, keeping her eyes on both men while Cloud's mouth dropped open, staring at Zack in absolute shock. Zack didn't get angry, Zack didn't get accusatory, Zack _didn't_ act like this!

"W-We...." Cloud backed up another step, not having a single clue how to deal with this uncharacteristic hostility.

 _"Do you remember AVALANCHE, Cloud?"_ Sephiroth suddenly spoke up, voice low and purring, clearly amused by the situation unfolding. _"Zack only knew the first AVALANCHE. The one who experimented on their own and others, who would have destroyed the Planet themselves thanks to that insane scientist they'd had on their payroll. The one who made the Ravens, who tried to have Professor Rayleigh kidnapped. Do you remember now, Cloud?"_

Cloud did remember. He'd been assigned as a bodyguard to the woman along with a couple of others, including a member of the Turks who's face and gender he couldn't recall. His fellow Infantrymen were killed by a Raven before the Turk killed them and Professor Rayleigh had been taken by another Raven while he and that Turk were dealing with the first one. They'd managed to rescue her, but lost the valuable data on SOLDIER that she had been transporting.

Cloud groaned, bringing his hands up to his face as he felt pressure growing in his head. Memories long buried were being forced to the surface by Sephiroth, reliving that terrible beginning to his career, nearly losing the person he'd been assigned to protect and still losing the data she'd been protecting. "....We weren't that AVALANCHE...." He panted out, doing his best to concentrate around the surfacing memories. "We didn't have a scientist.....Jessie was good with technology, Wedge ate a lot, and....and I think Biggs was good at disguises...." He grit his teeth. "Then there was Barret, Tifa and I.....no scientist.....no Ravens...." Why was Sephiroth making him remember all of this?!

Seeing Cloud in pain cooled Zack's temper somewhat and his tense posture relaxed a bit. ".....Of course not...." He said softly. "Aerith wouldn't have helped you if you were like that...." He began to look a bit ashamed of himself. "I'm sorry, Cloud." He spread his hands out. "I'm scared....you're right, if Genesis can convince Angeal, then we're in trouble."

"Mmn...." Finally the deluge was abating and Cloud was able to straighten up again and move his hands. "We're World Regenesis Organization now, Zack. Shinra was destroyed by Meteor, and for some reason Rufus seems content to let Khymera Corporation take over his company's job. The WRO is helping to clean up the mess Shinra left behind....we're not terrorists."

"Mm...." Zack nodded. "So, you ran into Genesis, then? What else did he say besides accusing you of being AVALANCHE?"

Cloud slowly crossed his arms, squinting a bit against the residual pain behind his eyes. "He talked about a WEAPON--I think he must have meant Chaos--and he thought I was SOLDIER too...."

"So, you're not?" Cissnei spoke up, drawing their attention.

Both Zack and Cloud shook their heads. "Hojo experimented on me." Cloud told her. "I have the mako and the strength....but not the training." He uncrossed his arms again to massage the bridge of his nose. "Zack, could your family put me up for the night? Cid's wife is giving birth and he's rushing home to be with her. He took the others with him, but didn't have time to get me."

Zack blinked, then nodded slightly. "I think we've still got the pull out couch, you can crash on that." He looked Cloud up and down. "Probably got some old clothes that would fit you, too. You need to shower."

"With all the times I've been getting wet lately, you'd think I would be cleaner than this." Cloud commented dryly before nodding and following Zack when the taller man turned to lead him inside.

Cissnei watched them go, remaining where she was with a pensive frown on her face. She had a lot to consider, including the career she'd left behind after Zack's reported death and her failure to save him. Her reason for leaving was moot now, but she wasn't sure she wanted to be a Turk anymore.

Then there was the re-emergence of Genesis and his teaming up with the leader of Deepground. This was developing into a serious situation. No matter what she decided, the entire world was in danger if Deepground had gone rogue. She couldn't make any decision lightly.

\------------------------------------------------------------

Angeal was having second thoughts about this.

It hadn't taken him very long to catch up to Genesis and it had taken even less time to drive him to the ground like a hawk harassing a crow. Other than an inital exclamation of surprise, Genesis had been surprisingly silent and Angeal very much had the feeling that Genesis had _let_ him drive him down.

They'd been in a stalemate for several minutes now, staring at each other with only their eyes and the light of the half covered moon for light. Genesis had a sword and presumedly materia, and Angeal had his size. It was fairly obvious that Genesis had the upper hand, yet he didn't take advantage of it.

"Angeal." Genesis finally intoned. "You shouldn't be here."

"And you shouldn't be doing this, Genesis." Angeal responded. "You have--"

"No." Genesis shook his head. "You shouldn't be _alive_. Zack murdered you."

"....I would prefer to call it assisted suicide." Angeal flexed his wing slightly. "But as it would seem....this isn't my original body."

".....Then this is the clone body." Genesis frowned and then started pacing. "That means they found the tanks in Reactor 0. Damnit!" His own wing gave an irritated snap, and then he stopped pacing to turn to Angeal. "Weiss assured me it was a safe location!" He paused, then smiled. "But you're alive, and that's what's most important. So. What have they told you?"

Angeal sighed softly and crossed his arms. "That you've already killed at least one person, nearly killed someone else and....nothing else relevant." Which was to say, not much.

"Then you don't even know who you're with..." Genesis looked relieved for a moment, before he straightened up to his full height. "Angeal, they're AVALANCHE. They're apparently calling themselves WRO now and I don't know what that stands for--"

"World Regenesis Organization." Angeal interrupted. "It stands for World Regenesis Organization."

Genesis stared for a moment, then made a dismissive gesture. "That's not particularly important. Anyway. The woman Lucrecia was killed by Weiss, but....she deserved to die." His eyes glittered. "She'd helped in the Jenova project, my friend. She was Sephiroth's mother. And as for the other one....Vincent Valentine, the bastard Turk who harbored the WEAPON, Chaos. The 'WRO' was going to use him to destroy this world."

Angeal was frowning deeply, listening to Genesis. He didn't know much about Cloud's group, that was true. However, some things weren't adding up.

Even if everything he'd been told was a lie--which unless Cloud had been telling it several times had come out in a way that had sounded too natural to have been thought up on the spot--there was one, indisputable fact.

"If they're AVALANCHE as you say, then why would they be working alongside the Turks?" Angeal questioned.

Genesis blinked in surprise, and then frowned. "There were rumors Rufus Shinra was funding AVALANCHE." He said slowly. "And Weiss told me he runs the company now, so maybe that's what it is."

"Why would he fund a terrorist organization?!" Angeal shook his head. "They were trying to destroy Shinra, that wouldn't make any sense. And neither would giving support in public." Although, Cloud _had_ mentioned another company; Khymera Corporation. Shinra Electric wouldn't like another company taking over their market, would they?

He frowned however and when Genesis started to talk again, he held his hand up for silence. No, this wasn't adding up at all. He hadn't been with them for very long, but they didn't _act_ like a terrorist organization. They were too out in the open and their only objective seemed to be catching up to Genesis and Weiss. He hadn't been given too much information as to _why_ besides one murder and one attempted, but they had dropped off at Gongaga to let Zack see his family and the next day they were apparently going to the Gold Saucer so Cloud could sell some chocobos. It just didn't work with what Genesis was telling him.

"What has Weiss told you?" He asked at last.

Genesis sighed. "AVALANCHE wants to destroy the world to save it. Only when it's purged of all 'contamination' will the Planet heal. They were probably going to use the proto-WEAPON that was residing in Valentine to do that."

That _did_ sound like AVALANCHE, Angeal had to admit. "That's all?"

"He also wants to revive his brother, who'd been killed by Valentine." Genesis gave a slight shrug.

Angeal nodded slightly. "....Genesis. You were degrading the last time I saw you. How did you find a cure?"

"Ah, yes. That." Genesis smiled and raised his arms, wing half-spreading as well. "The Goddess deemed me worthy. She cured me, and so I serve her will and the Planet."

Oh good, Genesis had lost what was left of his marbles. "....I see." Angeal said simply.

Genesis smirked slightly and lowered his arms. "There is no hate, only joy. For you are beloved by the goddess. Hero of the dawn, Healer of worlds." He put a hand to his own chest. "I will heal this world, I will protect it."

Angeal looked at him in silence for several moments.

"Genesis..." He said at last, slowly. "I think you might have been misinformed."

"At least I've _been_ informed." Genesis replied. "They told you next to nothing!"

Again Angeal had to admit that his childhood friend had a point and he nodded slightly in acknowledgment. "Then let's find out together." He said. "Come back with me. Zack seemed to have a better idea of what was going on....perhaps he can tell us." Zack was the reason he was reluctant to leave Cloud's group.

"Hmph. So the owner is loyal to the puppy? Not too much of a surprise, I suppose." Genesis shook his head. "Fine, I'll humor you. But _only_ Zack." He paused, and then his smile turned nasty. "Oh, Angeal? Did you know Sephiroth has possession of the spiky-haired blond?"

"......What....?"

"Oh, yes." Genesis started pacing. "I killed him, but Sephiroth took over and revived the body...then he took his own form." Genesis paused, frowning thoughtfully. "Though, come to think of it....he _also_ claimed I was on the wrong side...."

".....Maybe that's a clue." Angeal said dryly to hide his shock. Cloud had told him Sephiroth had been killed, but he hadn't mentioned anything about the other man existing in his _head_!

 _But earlier on the airship he got flustered when I asked about Sephiroth._ Angeal scowled a bit, then sighed. He'd worry about it later, when he had the leisure to talk to Cloud about it.

"We'll fly back in the morning." Genesis spoke up, glancing at the sky. "It's gotten far too dark to find our way back to Gongaga."

"....Alright." Angeal agreed reluctantly and tucked his wing away, watching Genesis do the same. They were SOLDIER and sleeping on the ground wasn't an imposition for them. What Angeal had trepidation about was bedding down with Genesis nearby.

He had a feeling he wouldn't be getting much sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cloud's [swords](http://i48.tinypic.com/dlkl51.jpg).
> 
> Crossposted to [DeviantArt](http://naosuloff.deviantart.com/gallery/34469925) and [FF.net](http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5454968/9/The_Planets_Enemy).


	10. Companions

Cloud woke to gently being shaken. He groaned and tried to roll over, his sleep-groggy mind thinking it was Marlene or Denzel trying to get him up. His nose was abruptly flicked and he snorted, swatting at the source of the aggravation only to be blocked.

"Man oh man." Zack's voice said cheerfully. "You're grumpy in the morning!"

Cloud opened his eyes to look up at him from his vantage lying on the hide-a-bed in the Fair's living room. ".....What time is it?" He asked muzzily.

"Six thirty." While Cloud stared at him in groggy incomprehension, Zack flipped the blankets off him. "Come on, get up! You're coming jogging with me today."

".....Are you out of your mind?" Cloud made a sleepy attempt to get the blankets back.

"Hey, come on now!" Zack tossed the blankets completely aside so Cloud couldn't get them. "You wanted to be SOLDIER, didn't you? Exercise starts at five, I let you sleep in!"

Cloud stifled a groan. He could dimly remember Basic, and it had actually started at four so the recruits could get up and eat a light breakfast, often leading to them starting the day before the sun was up. SOLDIERs had an extra hour? Damn them. "I'm not SOLDIER...."

"Up, Cloud!" Zack tugged him and even when Cloud went limp he dragged him off the bed anyway, laughing. "Grumpy spiky head." He said affectionately.

"You're going to wake up your parents." Cloud said with a sigh, giving up and moving to stand up. "Fine, fine....I’ll come. Just give me a few minutes to wake up. Is there breakfast?"

"What? Breakfast?" Zack shook his head. "We do running for an hour _before_ we eat, that’s how it works."

Cloud gave him a sleepy glare. "Ugh....you’re my best friend Zack, but I’m seriously considering throttling you right now. Where are my clothes, then?"

"Hanging in the bathroom. They should be dry by now." Zack looked proud of myself. "Fixed up the holes for you too." He looked at his friend seriously then. "What happened to you last night, anyway?"

"Genesis happened." Cloud stretched with a yawn, then smoothed out the borrowed pajamas. "I’ll tell you more once we’re outside." He didn’t want Cissnei possibly hearing him tell Zack about how Sephiroth had literally saved his life and he headed to the bathroom to get dressed, take care of morning business and check his cellphone for messages.

He had only one, sent at 4:23am: 'IT'S A GIRL!!!!' Cloud chuckled softly and closed his phone. He'd give Cid congratulations once the older man returned to Gongaga to pick up him and Zack.

Upon emerging once more, he headed to the front hall and paused with a slight smile when he saw Zack being his typical self. "Do you _ever_ get tired of doing squats?" He asked in amusement.

"Heh, not really." Zack straightened up and stretched. "No one beat my record all while I was in Shinra either. Ready to go?"

"Yeah, I'm ready....and that's scary, Zack." Cloud stepped forward to get his boots on and step out into the cool morning. He stepped away from the house and looked around, putting his hands on his hips. Gongaga couldn't have been more different from Nibelheim. Though the monster population had exploded after the reactor had been installed and what plantlife there was had withered away, Nibelheim had never exactly been a well-forested area anyway. It was simply too cold and mountainous for most plantlife to survive there.

But here was Gongaga. Surrounded by trees and existing at a lower geographical height than Nibelheim, not only was it warmer, but the air was fresher and everything was just _alive_.

"It must have been hard for you to leave home for Midgar." Cloud commented when Zack stepped over to join him, the Buster sword strapped to his back.

"Not that hard." Zack replied. "I wanted to become a hero, and I wasn't gonna be that in Gongaga. Sure I missed the chocobos and trees, and my parents were mad at me for a while....but I was gonna be a hero!" He gave his shorter friend a grin. "Try to keep up!" And he took off, leaving Cloud to go scrambling after him.

"Hey! Wait up!"

Zack laughed and slowed his run to a jog. "What's wrong, country boy? You could keep up before!"

"Before you were _walking_!" Cloud huffed as he came alongside, able to slow his pace now that Zack wasn't pretending to be a cheetah.

Zack laughed again, but then he became more serious. "So, you said Genesis had attacked you." He said, glancing sideways at his friend.

"Oh....yeah." Cloud grimaced and his pace slowed briefly. "I'd decided to walk up to the remains of the reactor and he was there....he attacked me, and I'm ashamed to say it but....I'd left Merciless on the Squall, so it wasn't much of a fight on my part...." How could he have been so complacent as to think Zack's hometown would be safe from enemies?! If nothing else, he could have come across a monster.

Zack stopped dead in his tracks and Cloud ran a few steps ahead of him before he also stopped and looked back at the other man.

"......He killed you, didn't he....?" Zack said slowly, staring at Cloud with an unreadable expression.

".......Apparently so." Cloud responded almost as slowly. "Sephiroth.....he revived me somehow, though."

Zack pursed his lips, considering this. "Did Genesis say anything? Anything important, anyway?"

Cloud frowned and crossed his arms, furrowing his brow and looking down as he thought. ".....I told you he thought my team and I were AVALANCHE.....he saw my eyes and thought I was SOLDIER....heh. He called me a traitor too. That was really about all."

Zack let out a gusty sigh and started pacing. "I don't get it, man." He said, sounding frustrated. "Last I saw him, he'd been wanting to _hurt_ people, and now he wants to _protect_?! This doesn't make any sense!"

"Are monsters supposed to be logical?"

Cloud snapped his head up and Zack stiffened, freezing mid-stride before lowering his stance and moving away from the person who had silently alighted behind him. He abruptly launched himself sideways, doing a one-handed handspring turn to simultaneously draw the Buster blade and get between Genesis and Cloud.

Genesis arched a brow, and then lightly clapped. "Oh _yes_. That was impressive. You never cease--"

"Genesis." Angeal landed nearby and started walking over. "Don't play games with them. We came here to get answers, and that's all."

Genesis gave a dramatic sigh and shrug. "Oh, very well." He looked at Zack. "Lower the sword, Puppy. It doesn't suit you to scowl like that."

"Angeal?" Zack questioned through gritted teeth, glancing at him.

"It's alright, Zack." Angeal assured him. "We're just here to talk."

".....Fine." Zack held the Buster sword back for Cloud to take. "I want to know what's going on, then." Once Cloud had taken the sword, he walked forward until he was almost in Genesis's face. "I want to know why when you think _we're_ the terrorists that _you're_ the one killing people!"

Genesis leaned back slightly, arching a brow at the uncharacteristic aggressiveness. "If you mean Valentine and that woman, then I won't deny that. As I told Angeal however, the woman was killed by Weiss." He shrugged. "And she deserved it. Did you know who she was, Zack? She--"

"Was Sephiroth's birth mother." Cloud interrupted. "We were well aware of that." He stepped closer himself, holding the Buster sword at a low angle so he wouldn't seem ready to attack with it. "But you _also_ hurt my friend. You killed someone he loved and you tried to kill him....and yet you're calling my friends and I the terrorists."

Genesis sighed and stepped back from Zack. "'Tried'." He said. "Well, that's disappointing. I wonder how much your 'friend' has told you about his connection to that woman, then." He tilted his head at Cloud. "Think about it. Your friend and that woman both look in their twenties, younger than Sephiroth. How could that be?"

Cloud sighed softly. Genesis apparently thought he was privy to some kind of special information that no one else had access to and the arrogance he was emitting as a result was annoying. "Vincent was killed and experimented on by Hojo, presumably made immortal as a result. As for Lucrecia.....I figure whatever was done to her to experiment on Sephiroth gave _her_ some kind of immortality as well." Considering she'd locked herself into a crystal, that made sense.

Genesis frowned. ".....Well, alright then." He said at last, not happy that they already knew what he had only recently found out. His eyes got a glimmer to them a few moments later though. "But Hojo didn't do _all_ of the experimenting. The proto-WEAPON was put within Valentine by Lucrecia, most likely to use against Hojo....or perhaps she had another purpose for it." Genesis shrugged, pleased by the surprised look on Cloud's face. "She'd experimented on her own child, who knew what else she was capable of?"

".......Whatever." Cloud made a dismissive motion. "Speculation about something that happened years ago." He'd worry about it later when he could talk to Vincent. "Why did you attack him and take Chaos and the protomateria? Or maybe I should ask why Weiss _said_ you were taking it."

"To keep AVALANCHE from using it, of course." Genesis responded.

"Of course." Cloud rubbed his forehead and sighed. "Never mind that AVALANCHE died when Sector 7 was dropped on it....." _Biggs, Wedge, Jessie...._ Cloud sighed again and looked at Genesis. "We're World Regenesis Organization. We work to undo the harm Shinra caused with the Mako Reactors and help people adjust to the differences. We don't go around blowing things up and killing people, or anything else terrorist-like."

"So you say." Genesis responded, crossing his arms. "And then you storm into a reactor and--what? Steal the copies inside for your own purposes?"

"Nope." Zack spoke up. "They came to life, so we killed them--'cept Angeal obviously, since he didn't attack us."

"And the funny thing about going there." Cloud continued with a tiny, twisted smile. "Rufus Shinra sent Turks with us to investigate it. We were going there looking for Weiss, and we found all of that instead."

"......Interesting." Genesis said slowly. He focused on Cloud completely then, and pointed at him. "So then, why is Sephiroth in your body?"

 _"Blunt as always."_ Sephiroth snarled, giving Cloud a slight start since he'd been silent until that moment. _"Well, puppet? What will you tell him?"_

Cloud pinched the bridge of his nose. "He put himself there." He half-muttered. "I have his cells, so I guess I make a good host."

"Oh yes, that's right. You _do_ have his cells." Genesis nodded thoughtfully. "You're the catatonic blond Zack was transporting around. Yes, I remember you now." He tapped a finger on his chin. "So, you're not actually SOLDIER, are you? Just an experiment."

Cloud tilted his head to look at Genesis sideways. "Yes, I wasn't SOLDIER." He confirmed. "I was just an Infantryman, just like you heard me say at the reactor yesterday." He paused and straightened up, all of their attentions shifting to the sky when they heard engines. They watched as the airship passed overhead, presumably to find a place to land on the outskirts. Once it had passed out of view, attention returned to their surroundings.

"It looks like my friends have arrived." Cloud noted, though he wondered why they would be showing up this early in the morning if Cid's daughter hadn't even been born until almost 4:30. He looked at Genesis. "Genesis. Where is Weiss?"

Genesis gave a shrug and slight smirk. "I don't know." He said. "He was intending to check the mako reactor, but clearly you were already there." He jerked his thumb back to indicate Angeal. "I don't know where he would be now."

".....Fine then. If you're not keen on getting killed by Vincent the moment he sees you--and chances are he'll give a good try at it--you should probably leave. Just keep in mind that you're aiding the leader of Deepground, and Weiss has already had more than enough lives taken by his soldiers in order to feed Omega."

"Omega....." Genesis frowned, then gave a slight nod. "Alright, I'll think about this." He spread his wing. "Angeal?"

"You're on your own this time, Genesis." Angeal said, vanishing his own wing. "I'm staying here."

"......As you wish, old friend."

"Wait!" Zack snapped just before Genesis would have taken off. "I want to know one more thing. That passage from Loveless you'd left us as a clue....why'd you leave it so vague?"

"Hn? Oh...that." Genesis flexed his wing a couple of times. "You weren't supposed to figure it out. I wanted Valentine to squirm a little more before I gave a more obvious clue." And before Zack had a chance to say more, he took off into the sky.

They all watched him leave for a few moments, but then Angeal cleared his throat to bring attention to himself.

"Cloud." Angeal said, approaching the blond. "Why exactly is Sephiroth in your body?" He looked troubled.

".....I suspect revenge." Cloud responded when Sephiroth didn't give him any clues. "I'm the one who keeps defeating him, so using my body is some kind of irony....and if you're wondering why I didn't tell you....he didn't want you to know."

".....I see." Angeal turned away. "Well. We should meet up with your friends, right?"

"Right..." Cloud handed the Buster sword back to Zack and moved to lead the way back to town, trying to ignore how awkward everything felt now.

\------------------------------------------------------------

"Hey kid! Come over here!" Cid grabbed Cloud the moment he walked onto the flight deck and all but shoved a digital camera in his face. "Look!"

Cloud took the camera, obligingly scrolling through the pictures shown on the display. Photo after photo of Cid's new baby. Photos with her mother, with Cid and with the others that he'd dragged with him. Cloud paused on a picture of Vincent, holding the newborn carefully in his arms with a bleary eyed Kyle on his lap peering at his new sibling. Vincent was giving the camera a cocked brow look, but Cloud swore he could see the faintest smile peeking out over the cowl.

"She's very beautiful, Cid." Cloud said at last, handing the camera back. "What's her name?"

Cid puffed up happily. "You damn right she's beautiful!" He beamed. "And her name's Trisha."

"Trisha Highwind, hm?" Cloud nodded slightly and then stifled a yawn. "Why are you here so early, anyway? I got your text, and that was at almost four thirty in the morning."

"Heh." Cid scratched his stubble. "Wanna get you all hauled off to the Saucer so _I_ can get my ass back to my family. The others're all passed out on the bunks meant for the crew. Where's your friend and that other guy?"

"Zack and Angeal?" Cloud shook his head slightly. "Zack headed back home to let his parents know he was leaving and probably to give his parents a quick introduction to Angeal." He crossed his arms. "I'm worried about that Turk friend of his, though. Vincent said no one ever stops being a Turk, so she might stick her nose into this."

"Hmph." Cid took out a cigarette to light up. "Well she was cute enough, but Vince is more than enough Turk for this goddamn group. We've already got way too many SOLDIERs, ey?" He arched a brow at Cloud.

"I was Infantry." Cloud reminded him. "And if you go home smelling like cigarettes, won't Shera have your hide?"

"Eh? Oh...." Cid sighed and put the cigarette away again without lighting it. "I love that goddamn woman, but really...."

"Cid...." Cloud sighed. "she put up with you for years while you were being all kinds of an asshole to h--"

"I know, I know! You don't have to remind me!" Cid turned away to go to the wheel. "Goddamn....everyone seems to be bringing that up lately....." He gave a snort and turned back to Cloud. "So, what about you and Tifa then? When're you gonna up and tie the knot?"

"Tie the.....oh, no no." Cloud put his hands up, shaking his head. "We're just housemates. We're friends, Cid. That's all."

"A friend doesn't call out the goddamn _Turks_ when someone goes off for a while." Cid pointed out. "Considering you have a habit of being gone for days at a time anyway, I think she overreacted a little goddamn much."

"You're not the only one." Cloud half-muttered. He sighed heavily. "We're just friends." He repeated. "If Tifa's saying otherwise, then she's got a _very_ different view of our relationship."

"Heh." Cid took out a toothpick to chew on instead since he couldn't smoke. "So what, you don't swing that way then? It's cool if you don't, Spiky. With a rack like Tifa's she's probably not out for suitors anyway."

Cloud stared at him for a few moments, and then he abruptly blushed. "I-I'm not--!" He sputtered. "I have more important things to worry about than relationships, that's all!"

"Sure sure." Cid looked amused at managing to rile him and turned his attention to his instruments.

Cloud turned away huffily, stalking to the window and stare outside as if by doing so he could make Zack and Angeal hurry up and after a couple of minutes, he could see them making their way across the field towards them. He gave a soft sigh and turned back to Cid.

"Alright, they're coming. Now we can head to Cosmo Canyon and ask Red if he'd like to come along on this wild chocobo chase."

"Eh, don't worry about that, kid." Cid replied, starting to flick switches to get the engines powered up. "Cait told me Reeve's already taken care of it. Red'll meet us at the Saucer."

"Oh....alright then." Cloud turned back to the window, not even turning back around when Zack and Angeal entered. He heard the engines start up moments later, but he just kept staring outside as the airship took off for the Gold Saucer.

\------------------------------------------------------------

North Corel. Cloud's group looked around with similar expressions of satisfaction with the natural exceptions of Angeal and Zack while the Squall took off behind them; Cid heading home to Shera and his new daughter until he'd next be needed. When last they'd been there, it had been a slum possibly even worse than the ones that had existed in Midgar, but now there were proper houses built with very little sign of detritus at all.

"Barret!" Tifa called when she caught sight of him holding the bottom of a ladder for someone, waving her arm to get his attention. Barret looked over and grinned, briefly freeing an arm to wave back. He stayed at his position however until someone else was able to come over and take his place, and then he headed over.

"Spiky!" He chose to greet Cloud first, grabbing him in a rib-groaning bear hug. "Where the hell've you _been_?! Tifa called me up a while ago to keep an eye out for yo' ass!"

Cloud wheezed, eyes crossing a bit and he punched Barret in the arm to make him let go. Once released, he coughed a few times and gave a weak glare over his shoulder at Zack, who was audibly trying not to laugh. Recovering his breath, he straightened up and looked back at Barret, who looked a touch sheepish but unrepentant.

"It's a long story." Cloud said. "Mostly I was at Mideel, thinking on this and that. I just didn't realize how long I'd been there." He knew his friends were likely staring at him, wondering why he was lying and he hoped they'd stay quiet and give him the chance to explain to them.

"Hmph." Barret seemed to buy the explanation and crossed his arms, his mechanical one dully reflecting the light. "So what's going on now? What'chu hauling everyone over the goddamn planet for this time? There more goddamn remnants or whatever?"

"Even better." Cloud responded flatly. "The Deepground leader and possibly a rogue SOLDIER First Class are--we think--trying to awaken Omega again. They already took Chaos and the protomateria from Vincent, which is why we think that's their motive."

Barret stared at Cloud for a few moments, then sighed explosively. "Thought we'd taken care of those sons of bitches."

"Mm." Cloud nodded. "Care to come along? We don't know where they are right now, but--"

"Love to." Barret cut in. "But I can't." He motioned with his left arm at their surroundings. "Finally getting things built up here. Can't just leave in the middle."

Cloud nodded again. "I understand." If Nibelheim had been left devastated in the wake of Sephiroth's massacre rather than having been rebuilt by Shinra to cover it up, he would have been doing the same thing. "We'll let you know if things get worse."

"Heh, good idea." Barret gave him a pat on the back that nearly knocked him over. "Try not to be so late on this one, ey?!"

".....I'll try." Cloud responded, trying not to sound resentful. It was a running joke that he always showed up at the last minute and he hated it because it was usually true. He patted Barret's arm. "Good luck on the rebuilding. We're heading on up to the Saucer if you end up needing to find us within the next couple of days."

Barret scowled. "Some lunatics are tryin' to up and mess with the Planet, and you're going to the _Saucer_?!"

Cloud gave a soft sigh and nodded. "I'm selling some of my chocobos at the Fair and I can't get out of it. Everyone else just decided to tag along." He moved to step past Barret while the older man 'harumped' and groused about 'people not takin' this shit seriously'.

The tram was there waiting when they arrived and they boarded quickly to get going. The trip up to the Saucer was spent in silence, save for Zack staring out the windows and commenting on how awesome this was. Cloud shook his head slightly and fought a smile, also noticing that Angeal was doing the same thing. This was a side of Zack that Cloud wasn't very familiar with, but it suited his personality all the same. Cloud envied his seemingly childlike innocence, especially given all that Zack had no doubt seen and been through as a SOLDIER and he wondered how he could possibly maintain it. None the less though, there it was and Cloud allowed himself to focus on that rather than the problem they currently couldn't do anything about anyway.

Stepping off the tram, Cloud immediately spotted Red pacing at the far end from the entrance and whistled to get his attention. Red looked over and smiled, then trotted over.

"Hello everyone." He said, looking at the familiar faces before tilting his head at the new ones. "You have picked up new allies, Cloud?"

"This is Angeal and Zack. Former SOLDIER First Class." Cloud introduced simply for the time being. "What did Reeve tell you when he brought you here, Red?"

Red's expression darkened. "He informed me that Deepground seems to have returned and may be up to their former tricks again. He also informed me of a tragedy that occurred" He glanced at Vincent and gave him an understanding nod. "and of another enemy that is residing somewhere." He looked very directly at Cloud with his one eye.

Cloud winced. "Well....that spares me explaining _that_ at least." He muttered. "He told you all of that, but not about Zack and Angeal?"

"Ae wasn't there for them." Cait spoke up. "Best if yae explain, ae think. Ae cannae accurately report what ae haven't seen."

Cloud sighed and briefly pinched the bridge of his nose. "Fine. Let's head to Ghost Square and get settled in there, then I'll tell you whatever you want to know, Red." Without waiting for a response, he stepped over to the ticket seller to show his lifetime pass to get everyone inside and then he led the way determinedly to Ghost Square.

Arriving at the counter, Cloud once again failed at not jumping when Mr. Hangman dropped from the ceiling. His only satisfaction came from the fact that nearly everyone else seemed to jump as well.

"Welcome!" Mr. Hangman said cheerfully. "With the Chocobo Fair here, we can only take reserved guests. Do you have a reservation?"

"Yes, I do." Cloud told him. "It should be under Strife."

Mr. Hangman tugged on the rope around his neck to lower himself all the way to the floor and took out the guest book to check. "Oh yes, here it is. You changed your bookings from yesterday to today. Three rooms, was it?"

"Yes." Cloud confirmed, though he glanced back at his friends. Each room had three beds and if he didn't count Red and Cait--who could sleep on the floor and do whatever Cait did to recharge--but included himself, that was six people. He could save 5 GP if he took one room off the list.

Vincent seemed to have come to the same conclusion as him, but had his own ideas. "The women get their own room." He said. "Then there is you, Zack and Angeal. I will room with Nanaki and--if neccessary--Cait."

"What do yae mean 'if neccessary'?!" Cait demanded huffily from where he was now seated on Red's back, but Vincent ignored him.

"Alright, yes." Cloud turned back to Mr. Hangman. GP was annoying to earn, but not impossible and he had plenty enough from his numerous stays at the Saucer. "Three rooms."

"That's 15 GP, please." Mr. Hangman cheerfully took the GP Cloud placed on the counter and swept it away, then placed down keys for their rooms.

"Uhm." Yuffie spoke up. "Sorry, but...uh....where's the Doorman and the desk...uh....guy? You don't normally handle all of this stuff."

"Oh." Mr. Hangman frowned. "Some guests got drunk and rowdy and they tried to put a stop to it." He sighed, but then perked up. "Don't worry about them, they're sure to be just fine again in a couple of days. Nothing some bone glue and stitching won't fix." He gave a grin, flashing them with white and even teeth; a shocking contrast to his green and rotting-seeming skin.

"Of course." Cloud said, humoring the act. He picked up the keys and stepped away from the counter to hand them out.

"Alright." He said once the keys were handed out. "Now, I'm going to head over to the Fair and see if my chocobos have arrived yet. If anyone notices something suspicious, well...." A rue smile. "I'll do my best to answer my phone." Cloud turned to leave the hotel.

"Cloud." Red fell into step with him. "You said once we were settled here that you would explain things."

"Oh....yes." Cloud sighed softly and headed out to the 'graveyard', hoping that there wouldn't be an influx of guests for a little while. He seated himself on the back of one of the fake stone tombstones and turned his attention to Red, though he noticed that Zack had followed as well.

"Alright." Cloud said. "The quick and brief version is that Sephiroth called me to the Northern Crater to sit his spirit into my head. He gives occasional snide commentary and advice, but he....can't make me do anything I don't want to do. Zack is the same Zack I based my 'SOLDIER self' off of. I found some kind of relic while briefly camped at the Mideel mako lake and got the compulsion to head to Nibelheim....where I found a secret room in Hojo's lab where some clone bodies were.....and the relic helped Aerith push Zack into his clone body, I guess."

"Aerith?" Red intoned and looked over at Zack.

"Yep." Zack confirmed, nodding. "I was happily dreaming in the Lifestream, then she woke me up, told me 'it's time for you to go', and....well it felt like a push. Next thing I know I'm naked and drowning in stagnant mako." He wrinkled his nose. "I really wish she'd given me more warning."

Red frowned and tilted his head, then looked back at Cloud. "What of that other man? Angeal?"

Cloud sighed. "He's also a clone body, grown for some reason by the rogue First Class working with the leader of Deepground. Apparently though you can't clone a soul, so supposedly it's the real Angeal."

"He _is_!" Zack insisted stubbornly. "I'd know if it wasn't him!"

"Angeal was Zack's mentor." Cloud explained for Red's benefit. "Anyway....is there anything else I need to explain?"

Red tilted his head the other way, thoughtful. "No." He said at last, straightening up. "I do not believe so." He stood up. "That being the case, I believe I would like to catch up with the others if that is alright."

"Sure, go on then." Cloud stood up from leaning on the fake tombstone, then looked at Zack. "I suppose you're going to be following me, huh?"

Zack gave a slight grin and nodded. "Chocobos." He said simply and grinned more.

"Hm...." Cloud stepped around the tombstones to head to the one that would return them to the central area, wondering to himself if it was somehow because of Zack that he had such a love for the giant birds.

\------------------------------------------------------------

Genesis had lied when he'd told Cloud he didn't know where Weiss was. Thanks to the copies he had left with the Deepground leader, he could always find him. He alighted outside the cave Weiss had taken shelter in and folded his wing away before heading inside.

"Wei _ss_." He said, ending his name in a soft hiss when he saw the white-haired man was reading his Loveless book.

Weiss looked up at him and gave a slight smirk, then closed the book with a 'clap'. "Ah, Genesis. Back from your 'hunt' already?" He looked amused.

"You lied to me." Genesis responded. "They aren't AVALANCHE."

Weiss tilted his head slightly, looking further amused. ".....You're right." He said at last, sounding like he was trying not to laugh. "It was all a lie."

Genesis snapped his fingers and the three copies he'd left with Weiss immediately moved to his side. "Then this alliance is over, _'brother'._ " He sneered. "I serve the Goddess's will, and you led me to believe that you did too."

"Dreams of the morrow hath the shattered soul." Weiss quoted at him as he moved to stand. "Pride is lost, wings stripped away. the end is nigh." He lunged forward, gunswords out and slashing through the two closest Genesis copies before they could react. They then closed in a scissor pattern on Genesis's neck, effectively freezing him in place.

Genesis's hand twitched toward his sword, but with Weiss posed to cut his head off there was nothing he could really do, and with his remaining copy in plain sight, nothing it could do either. "....I'll be taking my leave then."

"No." Weiss responded, darkness beginning to lift from his body. "You still have your uses." His nasty smile turned oddly gentle, his expression softening. "That book really does have some interesting passages in it, you know." He whispered. "A shame that you won't be able to read it anymore."

Genesis's eyes flicked to the rising darkness. "You're insane...."

"The _world_ is insane." Weiss leaned closer. "My soul, corrupted by vengeance." He quoted again. "Hath endured torment, to find the end of the journey in my own salvation....and your eternal slumber."

Genesis looked furious at having Loveless quoted at him, though his eyes flickered again to that darkness. It almost seemed to be taking shape. "......What is that?"

Weiss chuckled. "You remember when I mentioned my brother, yes? You're about to become _very_ well acquainted."

Fury turned to terror and Genesis jerked away, Weiss lowering his weapons and letting him. Unfortunately for Genesis, the dark shape lunged at him then, leeching into his body and cutting off the beginning of a scream. He hunched over, gagging and writhing in place for several moments before he slowly began to calm. The copy standing beside him jerked back abruptly and fluttered its wing, then turned to flee the cave. It paused only briefly to grab Genesis's dropped sword before it ran outside and took to the air.

Weiss didn't pay any attention to it, watching as Genesis's body was changed. His short auburn hair changing to long and shaggy black, his skin taking on a more sickly pallor and when he straightened up and opened his eyes, mako blues had turned into crimson, cat-slitted red.

"Nero." Weiss breathed. He dropped his swords and stepped forward, reaching up to touch his brother's face in seeming reverence.

"Brother." Nero purred in return, closing his eyes and leaning into Weiss's hands. "....I feel so tired."

Weiss laughed softly, a relieved sound. "Not to worry, dear brother. You'll feel much stronger very soon. The protoweapon is ready and waiting for you."

Nero opened his eyes again and nodded slightly. His expression didn't change, being used to having a muzzle as he was, but his eyes had an anxious gleam to them. He allowed Weiss to bundle him close and pull him over so he could sit down and rest. He sagged back against the naturally made seat and let his eyes close once more. He had a body of his own again, so soon everything would be alright.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cloud's [swords](http://i48.tinypic.com/dlkl51.jpg).
> 
> Crossposted to [DeviantArt](http://naosuloff.deviantart.com/gallery/34469925) and [FF.net](http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5454968/10/The_Planets_Enemy).


	11. The Saucer

Zack had never thought of himself as a poetic person. While he was a romantic at heart, poetry was more something Genesis apparently took interest in and while Zack knew Loveless from reading it years ago, it hadn't resonated with him. Beholding the perfection in front of him now however, he was sure he could come up with something.

"Beautiful...." He breathed.

Cloud shook his head and sighed. "I've never seen anyone get so dewy-eyed over a sword before." He commented, not knowing if he should be disturbed or amused. The Chocobo Fair was still being set up, so Cloud had decided to give Zack a tour of the Gold Saucer. When he'd brought Zack to Battle Square however, the sword had caught his eye and now he seemed infatuated with it.

The weapon in question was two inches short of the Buster sword and was also thinner, broad at the base but tapering to a sharp tip and it had a short but thick handle guard which held a materia slot on each side of it. It was a sleek design to be certain, but Cloud wouldn't have called it _beautiful_. Then again, for him a sword was merely a tool. A tool you relied on to keep you alive and therefore one that should be well cared for, but still a tool. Zack however, clearly did not agree with this sentiment.

"It's a beautiful sword!" Zack told Cloud. "Besides, I need my own." He motioned to the Buster sword on his back. "This is Angeal's and it's going back to him....oh, but he'd rejected it the last time I tried to give it to him." He paused for several moments, drooping slightly before he suddenly perked up again. "Well then, I'll give him that sword until he feels worthy of the Buster blade again!"

"You'll have to win enough Battle Points first." Cloud pointed out, already taking out his wallet to give Zack the 10 GP entry fee. "It says it costs 15,000 BP, but you're SOLDIER so this will probably be easy for you." He was about to hand the GP over, but then paused with a frown. "Oh, one more thing." He put a hand to his left arm to draw out his Curaga, then his right to pull out Ultima. "These will help too."

"Isn't Ultima a bit overkill?" Zack asked, accepting the materia all the same to put into the slots on the Buster blade.

"Maybe, but you have eight matches to get through. If you get the 'Magic Broken' handicap you're screwed on that match anyway." Cloud sighed. "Wish I had a Ribbon to give you...." He muttered.

"Wow. This is going to be really tough, isn't it?" Zack's eyes were starting to glimmer in anticipation of the challenge.

Cloud couldn't help but smile slightly and handed over the GP Zack would need in order to enter. "It might say 'The Brave Do Not Fear the Grave' over the door, but don't get knocked out. You'll lose all the BP you've earned if that happens. If you find yourself in too much trouble without the energy to cast Curaga, then forfeit."

"Gotcha, Coach." Zack was bouncing on his heels a bit. "Anything else?"

"They'll explain the rules to you before you go in." Cloud told him, feeling almost like an older brother in the face of Zack's youthful enthusiasm. He handed over a couple of Hi-Potions as a last resort and motioned for Zack to go over so he could start his battles, then he stood back to wait. If Zack got through all eight battles, then he could easily earn the sword on the first runthrough. If he got done quickly enough, they'd probably get back in time to watch some chocobos being unloaded for the Fair too.

Cloud smiled slightly, going to lean against a wall. No matter how old Zack got, he seemed just the same as when Cloud had first met him. Cheerful, enthusiastic and if a little morose at times, those moments tended to be brief. Zack was not a person prone to dark moods, and that made him a real relief to be around.

 _And Aerith sent him back._ Cloud frowned a little. He hadn't exactly had the time to ask her at the Forgotten City, and she certainly hadn't seemed surprised to see Zack there. But if she had sent him back, did that mean that she'd planned this? That she'd _meant_ for him to find the relic? If that much had been intentional, then did that mean she'd known about Sephiroth the whole time as well? Even if she had, she hadn't told Zack. But if she'd meant to send Zack back....

Cloud put a hand to his head. This line of thinking was giving him a headache. How much did Aerith know? Unless he went back to the Forgotten City and got her attention, or she came to him in a dream he had no way of asking. Fenrir was still on the Squall, so he had no way of sneaking off--and his friends would throttle him if they caught him anyway.

Cloud sighed and leaned his head back against the wall, closing his eyes. There was no point worrying about something he couldn't get the answer to, so he'd just doze a little and catch up on the sleep that Zack's early morning routine had robbed him of.

\------------------------------------------------------------

_Sephiroth stepped into Hojo's lab, expression impassive and bored as if all he wanted was to get his reason for being there--his monthly 'treatments'--over with so he could get on to more important things._

_In reality, he was terrified. The injections wracked him with pain, usually to the point where the most he could manage was staggering through the back hallways of the Shinra building back to his room and collapsing there, then being incapacitated for hours afterward--at best._

_Hojo looked at him, his lip curling when he noted the purposely relaxed posture, the bored expression. This was why Sephiroth did it, why he had cultivated this expression when dealing with the shrew of a man. For Hojo, fear seemed to equate respect and as soon as Sephiroth had figured that out, he had decided he would never show fear in front of him again._

_It was true that not showing his fear likely made it worse as Hojo would attempt to torture him into fearing him, but Sephiroth had a measure of the man and he knew that no matter how badly it all hurt, he was Hojo's precious project and the slimy bastard would never do anything that would permanently damage him._

_"Remove your coat." Hojo ordered as he prepared his instruments, laying them out in plain view for Sephiroth to see. Another ploy at intimidation and Sephiroth's gut knotted even as he obeyed, undoing the clasps at his wrists so he could remove his trenchcoat and lay it aside. He then stood there, waiting._

_Hojo looked at him again, his beady eyes flicking to Sephiroth's shoulder-length hair. He probably would have spit if it wouldn't have made things unhygenic. For the first fifteen years of his life, Hojo had made sure Sephiroth's hair had always been kept short in a buzz cut, but ever since Sephiroth had been released into the barracks three years ago, he'd been working on growing out his hair, trimming and styling it until he'd achieved what he wanted. Now he had every intention of letting it grow, possibly as long as it could get, and this along with Sephiroth's apparent lack of fear and obvious contempt made Hojo furious._

_"Lie down on the table." Hojo snapped, annoyed that Sephiroth had--again--waited for him to instruct him rather than just doing what he knew was expected. Sephiroth moved to obey, even though his insides felt like they'd all collected in his abdomen in a messy ball. He lay down on the table, but once more he was obstinate by laying his hands across his stomach casually and putting his legs outside the restraints. Even in his fear of the procedures, Sephiroth swore he would always defy Hojo in every way that he could. No matter how much it hurt it probably wouldn't kill him, and if it did....then he wouldn't have to suffer these treatments anymore or fight against people in a war he didn't understand._

_Hojo stepped over, taking Sephiroth's arms and legs and all but slamming them into the restraints. Sephiroth smiled grimly, not resisting. Yes, Hojo was in a fine temper today. He could take some kind of satisfaction from that. He hated the man and was openly contemptful of him, and Hojo hated him for the lack of cowing obedience and slavering adoration that he seemed to think Sephiroth owed him._

_A needle with glowing mako entered his view, along with Hojo's face and angry eyes. "One day boy, you're going to learn proper respect for your superiors."_

_"I respect my superiors, Professor." Sephiroth responded, proud that his voice didn't shake. "But you are in no way worthy of that title." He shut his eyes, strength of will keeping his muscles from tensing. "Gast was a far superior scientist to you, and_ he _I--"_

_"Insolent whelp!" Sephiroth felt the needle be jammed into his neck, and then the screaming began._

Sephiroth opened his eyes and immediately sat up to look around himself, relaxing upon finding himself in his room in the Shinra building--or rather, his memory of it. He had led Cloud to believe that the sterile white room was his chosen living quarters within the blond's mind, but in truth it was this room--his solace.

He stood up to pace around the immaculately clean room. Why had he dreamt about that? Had showing Cloud his fifteen year prison the day before really rattled him so badly?

Pacing to the window, he looked out, watching imaginary people and imaginary cars trundle about 'below'. They were fake, faker even than the simulations in the training rooms because they were a direct product of his own thoughts and he sighed heavily before turning away again and stepping back to his bed to sit on it.

Dreams were unimportant in the end. He had other, more pressing concerns to worry about, such as dealing with Genesis the next time he showed up. It still rankled that the other man had killed Cloud in such a dishonorable fashion, and it also bothered Sephiroth that it _bothered_ him. He hated Cloud. Hated him for daring to oppose him, for managing to defeat him. For having had a childhood, for having had a mother, a hometown, toys, hugs....for having everything Sephiroth had yearned for and Cloud had _taken for granted_.

Why had Cloud's pitiful death bothered him so much? Why had the honor Angeal had tried so hard to instill in him reared its head then of all times? Why, why, _why_?! What was happening to him?

 _I've been trapped in here too long._ Sephiroth hissed at himself internally, putting his head in his hands. _He's effecting me...I loathe humans. I_ loathe _them!_

He didn't want to have a conscience, he didn't want to _care_. Yet, that was exactly what was starting to happen, and Sephiroth found himself afraid that he would lose his identity if something wasn't done soon.

But what exactly could be done? He was stuck where he was. Even if the clone Zack body had his cells, the Gongagan was too strong-willed and it would be even _more_ of a prison than what he was enduring right now. Not to mention, if the way Zack _acted_ was any indication, his moral code was even _worse_ than Cloud's, possibly even as strict as Angeal's was.

The Cetra had been hoping for this, Sephiroth was almost certain. She didn't fear him, she hadn't even shown any dislike toward him. Smug bitch. She'd _known_ being in Cloud's mind would affect him, likely counted on it.

He had to figure out a way to get out of this situation. He'd called Cloud to him as a way out of being trapped at the Northern Crater, not knowing he'd just be exchanging a stationary prison for a mobile one. Cloud was stronger than he had anticipated, and that was the main problem. He knew who he was, and being around his friends only bolstered his sense of identity. Even if Sephiroth could convince the blond to somehow leave his friends behind, he would likely _still_ be too strong-willed to overcome.

Sephiroth gave a heavy sigh and allowed himself to fall back onto the bed in his personal illusion. What difference did it make anyway? He'd already _had_ an opportunity to take control of Cloud's body, and it had failed him. Perhaps it had been because it had only just returned to life, but perhaps not. Cloud was just a human, after all.

What he needed was a body strong enough to handle him. A body with no will of its own and no other presences already in residence. Ideally, a clone body. Sephiroth wrinkled his nose. He'd prompted Cloud to ask about the possibility of Sephiroth being cloned like the Genesis copies, and the way Tseng had worded his answer told him that it was possible. However...

_"Your traits cannot be copied onto others. Your genes can't be diffused. Therefore, you cannot degrade."_

"Rrr..." Sephiroth gripped his bangs, tugging on them in his frustration. Back then Genesis had been trying to get his cells to stop his own degradation, though clearly he'd found another way to fix himself. His traits could not be copied onto others, at least according to Genesis. It was true that he certainly hadn't seen any evidence to the contrary; his 'copies' had merely been weak-willed, almost brainless and hadn't shown the slightest sign of survival instinct. Cloud had been stronger, and Sephiroth had been able to get _some_ decent use out of him, but that had only been through manipulation and once Cloud had been shown the truth of his own past, Sephiroth and Jenova had been unable to continue using him.

But that just meant that normal human bodies were indeed not strong enough to handle him. Long term mako enhancement would probably help, but it would still require a stronger shell than Cloud was, as well as Jenova and S cells. Again, the ideal situation would be to find a clone of himself. Being that Genesis was aware of his presence however....but maybe that was giving the redhead too much credit. Either way, he sure as hell wasn't going to try using a Genesis copy. Even if it could work....

Sephiroth's train of thought abruptly changed tracks. Weiss apparently had Hojo's memories, therefore knowing where samples of Sephiroth's DNA would be stored. Maybe he was going about this the wrong way. If Weiss had that information, then the Deepground leader could potentially be of use. He didn't know how he would get the information from him, especially being stuck in Cloud's mind, but if there was a way he was definitely going to find it.

\------------------------------------------------------------

Makeup to match skintone and sealer to hide cheek tattoos? Check. Short, dirty blond wig to hide dyed red hair? Check. Oval frame, non prescription glasses? Check. Sneakers? Check. Gray sweater and blue jeans? Check and check.

Reno smiled at himself in the men's washroom mirror and checked his teeth. This was his second time at the Gold Saucer in about as many days, but this time he wasn't here looking for signs of Veld or the other Turks in hiding. Nope. This time he was stalking after Cloud and his friends.

This was Phase A: Observation, during which he would pick out information he could use for Phase B: Infiltration. If all went well in Phase A, he would then be able--in theory--to use the gathered information to join Cloud's group. If Phase A went _really_ well though, then Phase B hopefully wouldn't be necessary.

He was doing this to hopefully glean what Cloud and his friends knew. Deepground running around, apparently with Genesis' help. Zack returned from the dead, and now Angeal. Way too many weird things going on to be ignored, and it was up to Reno to try and figure out how all of this connected--because surely it did. When dead SOLDIERs returned to life, it was way past time to be suspicious.

He left the washroom, walking straight backed and seemingly attentive to surroundings the way a tourist would be rather than his habitual slight slump. He knew Cloud and his friends were here, now he just needed to find them.

After nearly an hour of searching, Reno was about ready to take a break when familiar voices behind him caught his attention. He casually slowed his walk to let them pass him and then fell into step a little behind them.

"Man, you should've seen me!" It was Zack, gesturing enthusiastically to Cloud. "I totally tore it up in there! Was it supposed to be that easy?"

Cloud gave his friend a tolerant smile. "Probably not." He told him. "But considering the size of the sword you won, it's fairly clear that they're still catering to SOLDIER-strength fighters." He gave a shrug. "Maybe you're just too amazing for the arena."

Though Reno read that as being mildly sarcastic, Zack just grinned widely and put his arms behind his back. "Maybe so!" They walked along in silence for several moments before Zack dropped his arms again and became serious.

"So..." He said quietly enough that Reno had to strain to hear him. "why do you think Sephiroth saved you?"

Reno missed a step and then dared to walk a little closer to them. _I can't have heard what I think I did...._

Cloud frowned slightly, looking puzzled and thoughtful. ".....I don't know." He answered after several seconds. "Maybe it's because he needs me alive for...." He shrugged slightly and shook his head. "Never mind. I just don't know. He's not going to tell me anyway."

"Hm." Zack poked Cloud in the cheek, causing him to recoil. "Why not? You guys are brain roomies, so why not share some information?"

Cloud shook his head again. "He's not exactly sane, Zack. He showed me the....lodgings he's set up, and I wouldn't call them very welcoming. Frankly, I'm just happy when he leaves me alone."

"Then maybe he should socialize!" This time Zack poked at Cloud's arm.

Cloud gave his friend a look, then made a show of looking around them.

".....Yeah." Zack sighed softly. "Just 'cause I _think_ only people who'd been dead can see him doesn't mean I'm right about it."

"Genesis couldn't see him...." Cloud shrugged. "Anyway....the Fair looks like it's finally open, so let's go see if my birds have arrived."

Reno diverted his path to head away from the Fair, as he had an allergy to chocobos and went to lean against a railing to think. Sephiroth was in Cloud's head. Now _there_ was some gold information. Phase A was already coming along rather nicely. If he could get more info like that, then maybe he could blackmail the information he wanted out of Cloud.

He smiled slightly to himself. Yep, this didn't seem so bad after all. Now all he needed were allergy meds and there was no where Cloud and his friends could go where Reno couldn't follow.

\------------------------------------------------------------

"They have different colors!"

Cloud chuckled softly, half-watching Zack as he stared around himself at the chocobos. Most of them were normal yellows, but here and there a green or blue could be seen, as well as one red that was barely fledged. Getting a colored chocobo seemed to be a hit and miss method in most cases, though with the notes that Choco Bill's granddaughter Chole had taken down it was probably becoming less chance and more intentional as the information spread among Bill's customers.

"You've never seen chocobos like this, I take it?" Cloud commented, even with the answer being so obvious.

"I thought they only came in yellow." Zack was looking around so quickly and avidly Cloud was surprised he was keeping his balance, never mind avoiding running into anyone. "This is really cool!"

Cloud shook his head slightly, amused. "They also come in gold and black, but those are harder to get. Ah. Here are mine." He stopped by a grouping of stables labeled with 'Strife, Cloud'. The stables in question held individually a green and a black and together two blue fledglings.

"Oooh. Hello, pretty birdies." Zack crooned. He checked the fledgling blues out first, crooning and chirruping at them, then moving on to the green and stroking around his beak and neck before finally moving to the black, who showed an eagerness to be scratched. "Oh hi! You're a really friendly one!"

"Read his sheet." Cloud suggested, smiling slightly.

"Hmm. Okay." Zack stopped giving the black neck scratches and picked up the chartboard. "Sire: Coal. Hen: Sunny. Name..." He paused and looked back at Cloud with a cocked brow, then looked at the sheet again, "Name: Zakky." He gave Cloud another look, and then smirked. "You named him after me?"

"He follows people around. When he was a chicobo, he kept getting out and following Chole--Choco Bill's granddaughter--around. He's a regular ladies man nowadays too--he really reminded me of you, and I thought maybe you'd come back as a chocobo."

Zack gave an amused snort and hung the chartboard back on the stable. "It would make more sense if I'd come back as a dog. Besides, he's not really living up to my legacy if he's only hitting on ladies." He gave Cloud a sideways look, then smirked slightly at his friend's uncomprehending look. "You mean you really didn't notice?"

".....Notice what?" Cloud asked, though he was getting the feeling that he didn't want to know the answer.

Zack smirked more and turned fully to face him, planting his hands on his hips. "That I flirted with you. Really now? Asking you to catch a bite with me, all that standing just a little too close. I _thought_ you were oblivious, so I didn't push too hard, but....well, it's all out now." He shrugged.

Cloud's face turned red as his mind casted back to some of his encounters with Zack when the Gongagan _had_ seemed just a little too friendly and touchy. "I....I'd thought that was just you being you...." Cloud managed at last. "I didn't exactly have much socializing before I went to Midgar....."

"Really?" Zack tilted his head. "S'not like you told me much about yourself."

Cloud shrugged and turned away to check on the fledglings. "There isn't much to say. You were my first friend. Ever."

Zack blinked. "Wha? Really? But I thought you and Tifa--?"

"I joined Shinra to become SOLDIER, remember? I wanted her to notice me, I wanted to finally _mean_ something to her. That's why I hid my face when we went there. We lived next door to each other, but she wouldn't give me the time of day--we'd never even really _spoke_ before the day before I left for Midgar and I'd called her out to the well to tell her so."

"Huh." Zack tilted his head, then half-turned to his namesake when the chocobo started nibbling at his clothes to get his attention. "So you didn't make any friends in the Infantry?"

Cloud gave a derisive snort. "They were all bullies." He paused. "Well, actually....there was a boy named Matt....or was it Alan?" He shook his head. "One of those two was a friend of mine....but something happened to him, or them or....I can't remember." He shook his head again. "Overall though, no. No friends until you, and no friends besides you until I met everyone I know now." He gave a rue smile. "I think they're only my friends because of what we all went through--we don't really have much in common."

"Do you and I?" Zack asked. "We're both fighters, we were both in Shinra....we're both country boys. But what else? Do you think it takes some kind of deep soul connection to be friends with someone?"

"I suppose not." Cloud admitted. "Though I think you need that in....a significant other." He gave the fledglings head scritches briefly, then turned to the green. "It's funny, you know....I live with Tifa now, she calls us a family....but we're not. I spent all that energy, all those years, trying to get her attention....but now that I've got it, I'm not so sure I want it."

"Hm. That happens sometimes." Zack tilted his head at him. "So, who _do_ you want, then?"

"No one, right now." Cloud shrugged. "I've got too much on my mind, especially right now. Life just won't settle down long enough for me to want to seek anything outside what I've got right now."

"Heh. You just keep waiting for the next big adventure." Zack grinned at him. "Well, don't worry Cloud! Once all this business is through, we'll find you someone nice."

"Thanks, Zack." Cloud said dryly. "What about you, though?"

Zack shrugged. "Who knows? Aerith would scarcely want me to be lonely, so I _guess_ I could go hunting down someone nice....but I guess I'm in your boat right now. I came in when the action was starting, so my mind's in SOLDIER mode and not 'suave, sexy Zack' mode."

Cloud coughed to cover a laugh. "Right." He said, amused. "Of course." He became a bit nervously serious afterward however. ".....Uhm. Why _were_ you hitting on me if you like women....?"

Zack arched a brow at him and put his hands on his hips, then tilted his head. "I figure, why limit myself? I like who I like. I prefer the ladies, but...." A shrug.

"Ah. Of course....so you'll look for a girlfriend after all this is over."

"Maybe even a harem!" Zack responded with a cheeky smile.

Cloud laughed, but he wondered in the back of his mind, would Zack really be around when all of this was over? Aerith had brought him back, essentially. Was it like a Life materia or Phoenix Down, or did that clone body have an expiry date set before Zack was 60 or something? That also led to the question of Angeal's lifespan, but Angeal wasn't Cloud's concern. He wasn't his friend, and he didn't know what to make of the man, besides.

He continued to exchange pleasant banter with Zack while his mind ruminated on the more depressing ideas of losing his best friend again....and also vaguely on the idea of bringing Aerith back. If the dead could really be revived, then where would it stop anyway? Could he bring back the original residents of Nibelheim somehow? There were just so many questions.

\------------------------------------------------------------

"Where is my son?!”

Vincent stared mutely at the specter before him. Lucrecia’s clothing and long, unbound hair whipping around her as if disturbed by a vicious wind.

“Where is my son?!” She demanded again, voice rising in fury.

Vincent tried to answer her, tell her where Sephiroth was, but his voice seemed to be torn away from him by the gale force of Lucrecia’s rage.

Suddenly she was standing behind him, her voice as gentle as a spring rain but as poisonous as arsenic.

"I'll take you with me." She whispered by his ear. Vincent felt her hands caress his body, wherever she touched flames seeming to erupt from his skin. He wanted to escape, but her clothing had wrapped itself around him and now it too was burning. He opened his mouth to scream....

Vincent woke up and immediately curled up into a ball on his side. He bit hard into his gloved right hand to muffle any screams he might emit and waited for the phantom pains to abate.

But this time they didn't. This wasn't the first time he'd woken up like this, but always before the pain would fade away. This time it was getting worse instead; rolling agony up and down his body, sparing nothing.

For several minutes that felt like an eternity he twitched, muffling his cries of agony into his glove. Finally though, the pain began to ebb away and he was slowly able to uncurl. He listened as his joints make cracking noises and gave one last groan before unclenching his jaw and releasing his abused hand.

"Vincent?"

Vincent opened pain-squeezed eyes to look into Red XIII's concerned face. "I....I'm alright now." He said hoarsely.

"Mm..." Red didn't appear to be convinced, and he frowned. "Vincent." He said. "When you are able, I think perhaps you should go look at yourself in the mirror."

Vincent slowly forced himself into a sit, stifling further sounds of discomfort. "Look at myself in the mirror?" He questioned even as he got to his feet and headed for the washroom to do just that.

Flicking the light on as he entered, he turned to face the large mirror and looked at himself. He didn't immediately see what the problem could be, but then he frowned and leaned closer.

He usually had crows feet and bags under his eyes from inadequate sleep, but both seemed to have deepened, becoming much more obvious. There were also wrinkles around his mouth, frown lines. They weren't very deep, but the fact that they were there at all was odd.

On a sudden impulse, he brought up his left hand to flick the hidden catches on the gauntlet so he could remove it. Pulling it off, he examined his hand and found his concern and alarm growing.

What had been a perfectly normal hand the last time he'd looked at it had become more prominently veiny. Not by much again, but enough to be a noticeable difference to Vincent.

"By Odin..." Vincent intoned in horror as the reason for this transformation sparked in his mind. He stumbled back against the wall.

"Vincent!" Red's tail was up in alarm, the flame sparking brightly. "What is this? What is wrong?"

"Nanaki...." Vincent had to lick his lips a few times before he continued, unable to take his eyes off his reflection. "I no longer have Chaos."

"Yes..." Red said, tilting his head slightly. "Reeve told me that."

"Chaos....made me immortal." Again, Vincent had to swallow several times and he finally was able to tear his eyes away from the mirror to look at his friend, who's expression was starting to match his. "I'm....aging...."

Vincent looked at his hand again. It was still as steady as ever, but how long would that last? And how old would he get? It had been roughly thirty years since he'd put himself in the coffin as penance, and he'd been twenty seven then. By the mark of the years, he was chronologically about sixty one. Would he age that far? What would happen if he did? How feeble would he become?

Vincent slowly slid down the wall, and brought his right hand to his face. He hadn't been this frightened, or felt this helpless since the day he'd found out his father had died in a lab accident and then when he'd discovered Lucrecia was submitting to experiments on her unborn child. Even surrounded by friends as he was now, there was no one who could help him.

He felt Red lean against him and heard him begin to purr, but he couldn't muster the energy to acknowledge him. Just as back then, there was no one who could help him. He bit his lip and swallowed a sob that threatened to come up. Vincent Valentine did not cry, it was unbecoming of men to shed tears regardless.

Oh, but how he wanted to now. How he very much wanted to. Everything was his fault, and now he could potentially die from his mistakes, or even just become too feeble to fix them. It was hard not to give in to despair, and so he sat there on the floor with Red trying to comfort him the only way he could.

\------------------------------------------------------------

Nero's body writhed and contorted, curling up on his knees while the darkness spasmed around him as if it too was in pain.

Weiss stood well back, watching as Chaos' addition to his brother's body began to cause it to mutate. In slow spurts at first and then in quicker bursts, bony appendages forced themselves out of Nero's back. Within a minute they were fully grown; skeletal wings. As Weiss continued to watch, skin crawled up over them as well and finally darkness took up the spaces between the wing fingers instead of an actual membrane. They snapped open and shut a few times before folding back, and slowly, the darkness pulsing around him like a heartbeat, Nero moved to stand.

Oh and what a masterpiece Weiss beheld. Nero had always been pale, but now he looked almost porcelain. His eyes were still slit-pupiled and crimson red, but now the sclera surrounding was black. He opened his mouth to lick his lips and Weiss could see the edge of canines--possibly fangs.

"This feels wonderful, brother." Nero informed him, his voice slightly lispy now thanks to the longer canines. "I've never felt this strong before. The darkness blankets me in comfort...I feel like I could be everywhere at once."

Weiss smiled, his expression gentle and loving, for it was directed at the only person who had ever mattered to him. "Together, Nero. Together we will bring this world to heel, to obey and worship us--and then die to perhaps live again. We will control the very Lifestream itself!"

Nero didn't smile, being accustomed to wearing a muzzle, he wasn't used to making facial expressions. His eyes however, glowed maliciously and he nodded. "The whole world will be your oyster, brother. I'll gladly be your herald."

Weiss finally stepped forward, bringing his hands up to cup Nero's cheeks in his hands and watching as the darkness peeled back where he touched his younger sibling so that it wouldn't harm him. He leaned to touch foreheads and looked eye to eye with his brother.

"We will have our revenge, dear Nero. The company that created us, the people who worked for it....they will be first. Cleanse the impure to make way for a new dawn. _Our_ dawn."

"The dawn of a black sun." Nero added. "I look forward to it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cloud's [swords](http://i48.tinypic.com/dlkl51.jpg).
> 
> Crossposted to [DeviantArt](http://naosuloff.deviantart.com/gallery/34469925) and [FF.net](http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5454968/11/The_Planets_Enemy).


	12. Vigil

Cloud was feeling rather satisfied as he walked down a hallway of the Gold Saucer to find himself and Zack something to eat. He'd already gotten several offers on his adult chocobos and a full-price buyer of the blue fledglings. If all went well, he might actually be done by evening and then they'd all be able to dedicate themselves whole-heartedly to locating Weiss and Genesis again.

His feelings of content well-being were shattered very suddenly however when Red came barreling around the corner, nearly running him down.

"Cloud!" He exclaimed, skidding to an abrupt halt, eye wild with panic. "Please come quickly!" And without giving Cloud a chance to respond, he tore off again, leaving Cloud little choice but to follow.

Red led him back to the hotel and up the stairs, where he began to pace anxiously in front of the room he was sharing with Vincent.

"Something is wrong with him." Red told Cloud when he caught up. "He had some sort of attack earlier, and another just now which rendered him unconscious." He stopped pacing to look at Cloud with a worried expression. "He said he is aging now that he no longer has Chaos and now I fear he may die."

Cloud froze for several moments, stunned. Death in battle he could handle, all it took was a Life materia or a Phoenix Down to undo. But death by rapid aging? That was likely as incurable as Geostigma. What were they to do about this?

He looked over at the other rooms. "Has anyone else woken up yet?"

Red shook his head. "I do not believe so. They are still recovering from the long night at the hospital." His tail suddenly shot up, the flame brightening briefly. "Yes! We should take Vincent to a hospital! Perhaps they can help him!"

"Help with his rapid aging?" Cloud sighed and shook his head. "If he's right about that, then I don't think there's anything a hospital could do for him."

"But he might be wrong!" Red protested, his tail swishing in agitation. "He may die, Cloud! He is our friend, we must try!"

".....Alright. We'll try." Cloud pulled out his cellphone and hit the rapid dial number for Cid's phone.

"Hey there," Cid's voice spoke cheerfully. "you've reached my cellphone! I'm not around at the moment, so leave a goddamn message and your phone number and I'll think about calling you back!"

".......Voice mail. Crap." Cloud shut his phone. "Cid must have turned it off, or the batteries died." He sighed and looked at the phone in his hand. Now what?

He looked around for inspiration and watched Red when he began pacing again. "....Hey, wait. Where's Cait?"

Red paused, then motioned with his head at the door to Vincent's room. "He's been--err...sleeping?--since not long after we settled in there. I considered awakening him at one point, but he will not be roused."

"Hn...I guess his batteries ran out too." Cloud rubbed the back of his head, then looked at his phone again. Finally, with a soft sigh he began flipping through his recent call list to see if Reeve was in there, as he didn't have his phone number. Thankfully he found it and was soon dialing.

A pleasant female voice soon answered. "Hello, you've reached the World Regenesis Organization, how may I direct your call?"

Cloud inwardly swore. He didn't want to waste time dealing with being constantly redirected. "This is Cloud Strife. I'd like to speak to Reeve Tuesti."

"Please hold, sir." And before Cloud could protest, he found himself listening to pleasant classical.

"If this situation were not so potentially dire, I believe I would be laughing at your expression." Red sat down and tilted his head at Cloud. "What has happened?"

Cloud held the phone out toward Red so he could hear the music and after a few moments, Red nodded. "Ah, I see. Is the music not to your taste?"

Cloud gave a light snort. "That too." The music stopped suddenly and he hastily put the phone back to his ear.

"Cloud?"

"Oh good. Reeve." Cloud huffed out a breath. "Apparently Vincent is....er....rapidly aging and Red insists he should be taken to a hospital. I can't get a hold of Cid, so...."

"Hm. Say no more. Vincent is a part time employee--just like you are--so this will fall under medical. I'll have a med-copter sent out from Junon."

"Thank you, Reeve." Cloud hung up and sighed. That was an inconvenience about the Western continent; the only hospital on it was in Rocket Town and aside from it or Costa del Sol, there weren't really transports to get over to the Eastern continent where the high tech cities--Junon and formerly also Midgar--were. Cloud hoped that Vincent would be taken to Junon, since it had the better hospital.

"Transport is coming?" Red queried.

"Yes, but it will be a couple of hours." Cloud looked off at the exit to the hotel and frowned. "And I still have to get lunch for Zack and I and possibly--hopefully--get a final sale on my last two chocobos. The only way to really help Vincent might be to get back that protomateria thing and Chaos.....so we'd better step this up." He looked back at Red and reached out to briefly ruffle his mane. "Vincent's survived a lot of things, have some faith in him. If you need to get a hold of me....well, maybe you should wake one of the others and have them call my cell. If you show up at the chocobo fair, birds and people might start panicking."

"Hn. Any other time and I might consider it amusing to cause such a fuss." Red lay down. "I will do as you say. Good luck selling your chocobos."

"Thank you." Cloud took the stairs down two at a time to hurry back to his original intention of getting to the food court. What a day this was forming up to be, and he'd actually been in a good mood too.

\------------------------------------------------------------

Sephiroth was beginning to get the feeling that he was losing his grip on reality as he stared at the being that had appeared in his 'room' in Cloud's mind.

Jenova stared back at him with shining crimson eyes. She opened her mouth to speak, but all that came out were disconcerting hisses and clicks.

"Mother....?" Sephiroth questioned in confusion before shaking his head. "I don't understand what you're saying."

She tilted her head, then after several seconds, smiled malevolently. "uoY esaelp su. emoC dnif su. eW evah esu rof uoy."

Sephiroth shook his head again. "I don't--"

"yebO!" She lunged at him, grabbing his upper arms and sinking long nails in. "yebO su! saH gnieb edam flah dnaL rekaepS dellud ruoy stiw?!"

Sephiroth's reaction to this assault was immediate. His eyes flashed and the walls of the room shook violently. "Release me, now!"

Jenova hissed, exposing fangs like a poisonous snake. She let go of him a moment later however and vanished as quickly as she'd come.

Sephiroth stared at the spot she'd been for several moments before he began to pace. Was Cloud actually right, and he _was_ unhinged? He was clearly awake, so what had _that_ been?

Well, with all of the Jenova cells he'd been infused with, maybe it wasn't so surprising that she would talk to him through them--since Jenova could never truly be dead so long as even one cell continued to exist--but the question was; how was she speaking to him when he was a ghost and didn't technically have 'cells' anymore?

 _Oh. Of course._ Sephiroth stopped pacing and touched fingers to his forehead briefly. _Cloud_ had both his cells and Jenova's. She would have little use for Cloud, but him....if only he could have understood what she was saying, he would know what she wanted from him.

He gave a heavy sigh and sat down on his bed. Why had she attacked him? Why had he felt such a violent need to defend himself from a being that had never before tried to harm him? She'd clearly just been trying to get a point across....

He shook his head and decided to stop worrying about it. If she showed up again, then she would. Unless she stopped speaking gibberish, there wouldn't be much conversation anyway.

\------------------------------------------------------------

When Cloud returned to the Chocobo Fair, he found that Zack was being harassed by a couple of officials. The ex-SOLDIER seemed to be trying to explain something, but by the look of the two burly guards heading in that direction, something had gone wrong.

Cloud quickened his pace to get over there and quickly interposed himself between the officials and Zack.

"You're agitating my birds." He told them. "What's going on, please?"

"Your birds?" One of the officials--who's nametag read Hensing--spoke up. "Sir, I'll have to see your identification."

"Fine." Cloud pulled his nametag out of his pocket and held it out to him. "I'm Cloud Strife, and these are my chocobos." He continued, pulling out his motorcycle licence to verify what his nametag said. "Now please, what's going on. What happened?"

The two officials looked at each other, and in the pause it was Zack who spoke up.

"They didn't like that I was showing your chocobos to potential buyers." He told Cloud. "Since they're not mine and all."

"Great." Cloud sighed and looked at the officials. "I apologize. I didn't realize there would be a problem with me leaving my friend in charge while I went to get some lunch for us both." He held up the doggy bag. "I'm sorry for the trouble, it won't happen again."

"There was a complaint that your friend here was trying to oversell." The other official--Jadern--told Cloud, holding a hand up to the arriving guards to signal them to wait. Apparently, they didn't think the discussion was over.

Cloud sighed again. "If the prices were $2400 and $1800 respectively, then those are the prices of my birds." Hensing looked appalled, while Jadern was calmer. "I also told Zack how low I was willing to go, but apparently he never got that far since I only see a 'SOLD' stamp on my blue fledglings.

Jadern finally nodded. "Then we apologize, sirs. Enjoy the fair." He turned to go, leaving his partner and the guards to follow.

"Ugh." Zack commented, shaking his head. "It must've been that short, huffy guy who complained. I think he believes the colored birds are just dye jobs. Probably causing problems for the whole fair."

"Short, huffy guy?" Cloud turned to face him, opening the doggy bag to get their lunches out at the same time. "Gets red in the face easily. Wispy gray hair?" At Zack's nod, Cloud gave an exasperated sigh. "Yeah, it would have been him. He's an old codger who's _really_ set in his ways. He's been mad as hell ever since the first year I've been coming to this fair because he's having so much trouble selling his yellows now that the other colors have shown up and he refuses to find out how to breed them himself."

"Ehh. Some people are just like that, I guess. Ooh, that looks yummy!" Zack reached for the footlong sub Cloud was offering him. "Ohh man, you put ham _and_ roast beef in this!" His eyes twinkled. "I will treasure it always." And he took a big bite out of it.

"Hn...were you always this weird?" Cloud was amused as he pulled out a hamburger, watching Zack act like he was eating ambrosia.

Zack smirked at him. "Fairly sure. I might be hamming it up a _little_ , since I'm still glad to be alive again and all. There are still so many pretty ladies I haven't hit on yet!"

Cloud rolled his eyes, but then became more serious. "Actually, there's a problem." He waited for Zack to give him his full attention before he continued. "Vincent might be dying. Reeve--Cait's controller--is sending an airship to pick him up and hopefully take him to a hospital in Junon, but I don't really feel very comfortable leaving it at that. However, _I_ can't leave until Zakky and Mako sell, so would you be willing to take the others and head to Junon with Vincent? You can check for Genesis clones while you're there."

Zack gave a light snort to the last sentence, knowing Cloud was referring to the clone invasion Shinra had arrived at Junon en masse to put down years before. He became serious again afterward however, and nodded slightly.

"As long as you promise to catch up with us as soon as you can." He said. "You want us to look for signs of that Weiss guy too, right?"

"Yes. We can't afford to waste any more time. We have to catch him and at least somehow get back Chaos and the protomateria--which is apparently used to help control Chaos." Cloud shook his head slightly. He could remember Chaos more than well enough from back when Vincent would lose control during battles and he'd scarcely have called it or any of Vincent's other three transformations 'controlled'. "If we can get those things back to Vincent, maybe he'll stabilize."

"Hm." Zack nodded. "Gotcha. So a catch and grab for this Chaos and protomateria?"

"At the least. At the most, obviously taking out Weiss and Genesis."

Zack nodded again, but now he was frowning. "But Genesis might just have bad information. Maybe he could be convinced to help us instead."

".....Unless my friends vote someone else into being in charge, you're the leader. Make the call."

Zack blinked. "You're seriously leaving me in charge? They barely know me!"

Cloud shook his head slightly. "There's no one else. Cid and Barret aren't available, and Vincent is dying. I wouldn't leave Yuffie in charge, and I don't know how good Tifa's leadership skills are. Red XIII.....well he might be an okay leader, but he has some confidence issues that might hinder him. You already know how to lead, Zack. You're my friend and Tifa already sort of knows you from Nibelheim. Take care of my friends, keep an eye on Angeal and make sure all is well in Junon before you move on."

Zack gave a wry smile. "Don't take too long catching up with us, huh Cloud? I know how to lead SOLDIER's, not former resistance members. This doesn't sit right with me."

Cloud gave a quiet sigh. "We weren't that AVALANCHE, Zack. I told you that already."

"I know." Zack finished off his sub and sighed. "But it still doesn't sit right with me."

Cloud finished off his own food and handed napkins to Zack, using one for himself. "Considering you were...in the Lifestream, I'd think you'd be a little against mako reactors."

Zack gave a light snort. "It's not about what you guys did, it's that....listen. AVALANCHE took friends away from me. Sure, different AVALANCHE, but same name. You're that World Regen--thing now, but you _were_ AVALANCHE....even if not the same one."

"We didn't kill anyone." Cloud said softly. "It was Reno who brought down Sector 7's pillar....we didn't do that."

Zack stared at Cloud for a few moments ."........Reno did that? Turk Reno?"

"Yes, Zack. Turk Reno, the one who threw a fit when he found out we were going to Deepground."

Zack crossed his arms loosely, considering this information. After a few moments, he gave a heavy sigh. "Never knew him that well, the Turks didn't tend to mingle and I only worked with Tseng or Cissnei. He didn't seem like a bad guy, though. For a Turk."

"Vincent and possibly Rude are the only Turks I think I'd ever come close to trusting." Cloud responded. "The others I know; Tseng, Elena, Reno..." He shook his head. "You hear about the mob....that's a Turk. They'll do whatever it takes to protect 'the family interests'."

"That's a harsh descriptor....so people died when the pillar got dropped, huh?"

"Including Denzel's parents." Cloud shook his head, then put a hand on Zack's shoulder. "But don't worry about the past. We need to work for the future now. Go on and get the others awake and ready, just let them know they're all going to Junon with Vincent. I'm counting on you to look after my friends, Zack. Just do what you do best."

"I'm flattered you've got so much faith in me, Cloud." Zack squinted at him. "You _are_ going to meet us in Junon, right? This isn't just a ploy to run off and try and deal with your head issue, is it?"

"......Hn." Cloud sighed softly. "We're getting along for the time being, or as close as we _can_ get along, anyway. Besides, Vincent gave us all a good example of what happens when someone goes off by themselves. I'll just be here as long as it takes to sell my chocobos, and then I'll make my way to you. No more splitting up if we can help it. Vincent's the one who knows the most about Deepground, my encounter with them was pretty brief--but I can tell you that they're probably all as strong as First Class SOLDIERs, so if the grunts are like Firsts, how strong is Weiss? As strong as Sephiroth? Just keep on guard, make sure everyone does the same. I don't want any more accidents."

Zack smiled and patted Cloud's arm. "Don't ever doubt you make a good leader, okay man? That was a great speech, couldnt've done it better. I'll make sure everyone makes it out of this in one piece, and I'll try to get us to wait in Junon for you unless we've gotta move on."

"Don't worry. I'll just call Tifa and have her tell me where you all are if I have to." Cloud gave a small smile. "And thanks....I don't feel much like a leader, though."

"It can be the kind of thing that sneaks up on you." Zack turned to his namesake to give the black chocobo some neck scratches, and then gave a salute to Cloud before going to walk away.

Cloud waved to his friend and waited for him to vanish into the crowd before sagging against Zakky's temporary stable. The best plans could go awry, and having just mentioned Sector 7's pillar, he could remember all too vividly the last time he ever saw Biggs, Wedge and Jessie alive. The best plans could go awry, and people who were so vibrant and alive could be stolen away in a heartbeat.

 _Never again._ Worry turned to determination and Cloud straightened up again. _No more deaths. I'm not losing any more friends. You'd better fight, Vincent. You've come too far to die now._

\------------------------------------------------------------

Vincent remained firmly unconscious from the Saucer to Junon and Tifa watched him that entire trip in concern. His face was visibly lined, his hair showing signs of turning gray. He looked _old_ , and it made her feel almost sick. Vincent would occasionally remind them that he'd come from a different time than them, that he was really in his early sixties, but that had always before been an abstract that would never hold true to reality. Now it _was_ becoming reality, and no one knew what to do about it.

"Is he going to die?" Yuffie asked, finally speaking up after the silent trip as the helicopter engines powered down. Her eyes were red and puffy and Tifa knew she likely looked much the same. Only a few hours earlier they were witnesses to new life, and now they were possibly witnessing a death.

"I don't know." Tifa responded, her voice a quiet whisper. She stayed seated as the medical crew proceeded to unlock Vincent's stretcher to disembark. "Hopefully they can help him here."

"Vinny...." Yuffie bit her lip, watching him be wheeled out of the helicopter and then unfastening her harness to follow. Tifa sighed softly and undid her own harness, then she turned to help Red XIII with his only to find that Zack already was.

"Go on, Tifa." Zack said. "I'll take care of this and join you with Cait." He looked troubled himself, but Tifa doubted it had to do with Vincent. They had been unable to locate Angeal before leaving, and Zack was likely pre-occupied with the possible whereabouts of his fellow ex-SOLDIER.

As Tifa followed Yuffie down the ramp, she found she couldn't blame Zack for his mind being elsewhere. He didn't know Vincent, and he had also been put in a leadership position that he actually seemed to be uncomfortable with. As he'd explained to them when telling them Cloud had put him in charge until he could sell his chocobos and join them; he knew how to lead SOLDIERs and Infantry, not people without a military background. He didn't know how to direct them, and it seemed to shake his usual confidence.

Well, that was fine. Right now there wasn't much leadership needed or wanted. Their first priority was to see Vincent safe to his destination, and then after that they could worry about finding Weiss and Genesis.

"Tifa."

Tifa turned away from the sight of Yuffie closely following the stretcher, yelling at Vincent not to give up, to fight--all the while, tears streaking down her cheeks--and found Reeve there waiting for her. She bit her lip, and then with a cry of her own, she launched herself into the older man's arms and started to sob.

"Ah." Reeve looked a bit discomforted, not used to this sort of thing. He then put his arms around her and rubbed her back, trying to calm her down. "Vincent will be recieving the best care this world can provide." He told her. "Don't worry."

Tifa didn't reply, knowing she couldn't trust her own voice and just allowed herself to cry until she felt she was calmer. She pulled away, wiping her face and looking blearily in the direction of the departing ambulance.

"Lass." Cait had finally come back online and Zack, who was carrying him, handed him to Tifa. The robotic feline then did something he'd never done before; he latched himself to her and started making a very realistic purring noise.

"Come on." Reeve put a gentle hand on Tifa's back. "Yuffie stuffed herself into the ambulance, so lets get the rest of you to the hospital." He guided Tifa to a waiting car and after some quick seat adjustments to accommodate Red, they were soon on their way.

Tifa sat in silence, holding the purring Cait and looking unseeingly out the window until an exclamation from Zack drew her attention.

"Oh, wow!" He pointed out his own window at the sight they were coming up on, a large skyscraper with a stylized chimera on the side. The image was formed to make a wind turbine out of the tail, waves out of wings and an oil pump out of the head. "What's that place?"

"That's Khymera Enviro's main headquarters." Reeve told him. "The hospital we're going to is attached to it."

"It has a hospital attached to it?" Tifa frowned. "Why?" She sounded suspicious.

Reeve laughed softly in response, turning around on his seat to face her. "Because most of the remaining SOLDIERs and Infantry are employed by Khymera Enviro now, and so they need the most advanced medical facility right next door in case any problems crop up. No one fully knows what the long term effects the SOLDIER program would have had on its subjects."

"What's happened?" Zack asked, though his eyes were elsewhere as the driver pulled into the parkade.

"Mm, nothing that I know of." Reeve shrugged. "We know thanks to Shelke what long term mako exposure does to a growing body, but everything else is still up in the air."

"Shelke....?" Zack rubbed the back of his head. "She was that auburn-haired girl at the bar a couple of days ago, right?"

Tifa nodded. "Yes. She looks about eleven now, but she's actually twenty."

Zack stared at her, then sat back on his seat. ".....Wow." He commented, flabbergasted. "That's gotta suck."

The driver found a place to park and they got out, Reeve instructing the driver to wait for them and then he led his way to the hospital entrance. After a bit of runaround, they finally were able to find out where Vincent was and headed off to find him.

When they got to the location, they found a teary-eyed Yuffie cradling Vincent's gauntlet and gun in her arms like she was afraid they would vanish if she let go. She looked over at them with visible relief.

"Th-They took him i-in to have an CT scan." She told them, looking about to burst into tears. "Th-They w-wanted to t-take these from h-him, but I knew Vinny would b-be mad, so I t-took them myself." She looked at Tifa, lip wobbling. "He s-still didn't w-wake up!"

Tifa sighed softly and went over to gently hug Yuffie. It was a bit of an open secret that the ninja had a crush on Vincent, though it was just as well known that Vincent did his utmost to ignore said crush. In this instance however, Yuffie was definitely not the only one needing a hug.

"You know Vincent's tough." Tifa tried to reassure. "I'm sure he'll wake up soon."

Yuffie leaned against Tifa, unable to hug the other woman back thanks to the things in her arms and sniffled. "I h-hope s-so...."

"Tifa." Zack interjected softly. "I don't want to ditch on you guys, but if there are people from SOLDIER employed at Khymera Enviro, then maybe I can ask them to help us. They could keep an eye out for Genesis, at least."

Tifa looked over, and sighed softly before she gave a faint smile. Poor Zack. He wasn't really striking a very self-assured image right now with the distressed look on his face and the slight shifting from foot to foot. "Go on then." She said. "Oh." She frowned. "How will we get in contact with you if something happens?"

"Here. I've got that covered." Reeve dug into his pocket and soon brought out a cell phone to hand to Zack. "This is my personal cell." He told him. "Most of my employees don't know the number, but if you see any number on there without one of our names attached to it, just let it go to voice mail. If they really need to contact me, they can send me a page or call my work cell."

"Oh." Zack took it and smiled slightly, taking the phone and pocketing it. "I'll try to hook back up with you guys again soon." And with a half-hearted salute, he turned to go and find his way to the Khymera building. The others turned their attentions toward the door Vincent was currently behind, hoping for the best but expecting the worst.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cloud's [swords](http://i48.tinypic.com/dlkl51.jpg).
> 
> Crossposted to [DeviantArt](http://naosuloff.deviantart.com/gallery/34469925) and [FF.net](http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5454968/12/The_Planets_Enemy).


	13. Deep Trouble

It was finally done. All of his chocobos had been sold and Cloud would even get a cut of profits from the first three chicobos sold from Zakky's matings. Now he just had to get himself to Junon. He was walking back to Ghost Square and just starting to pull out his cellphone to try and get a hold of Cid again when he sensed someone coming up fast behind him. He turned, bringing his arm up and blocked a blow aimed at his head. He grit his teeth when electricity made his arm tingle and squinted under his raised appendage at his assailant.

"Reno." He growled. "You've got three seconds to start explaining, or I'm using Merciless."

"Heh." Reno lifted his electromag rod and flicked the power off, then rested the end on his shoulder. "Good reflexes, Cloud. I just got a question or few for ya, yo."

Cloud stared at him in silence for a few moments, then he sighed heavily. "Alright, Turk. What do you want?"

"Let's go somewhere a little more private, huh?" Reno motioned with his weapon. "Say, your room at the Ghost Hotel?"

Cloud eyed him again, but with another heavy sigh he turned to lead the way. Once they were situated in his room, he turned to face Reno and crossed his arms. "So, what do you want?"

Reno leaned casually against the wall, tapping the rod on his shoulder a few times. "I know you've got Sephiroth in your head." He said bluntly. "The question is, how'd he get in there? And" He continued quickly. "before you think about not answering or whatever, I sent a time delayed voice mail to Tseng. If I don't cancel it in the next half hour, he'll get it and then he, the other Turks and Rufus will know about Sephiroth too. You don't want that, do you?"

Cloud clenched his jaw, eyes narrowing slightly. "...I was injected with his cells in Nibelheim." He said slowly. "I'm the only living 'S copy' left, so I guess it was enough for him to take up residence."

Reno scratched at his nose, playing casual. "But not take over?"

"If Sephiroth had control, you'd be dead already." Cloud pointed out.

"Heh." Reno scratched his nose again. "Good point. Alrighty, next question. Deepground. What's going on with it? What do you know and how is Genesis connected?"

"That's more than one question." Cloud shifted his stance, loosely crossing his arms. "But I don't know very much anyway. Weiss and Genesis are working together, presumedly to bring back Omega--though I haven't heard about any mass disappearances." He arched a brow at Reno, who shook his head.

"I haven't heard anything like that either." Reno replied. "But your guess is as good as any." He straightened up as if to go, but then paused and looked back. "Oh, by the way. The boss wanted me to tail you all. So either you can leave me to do that, orrr you can let me join up with you."

Cloud gave him a deadpan look. "...You're joking."

"Nope! So what'll it be?"

Cloud brought a hand up to pinch the brow of his nose. "Help me get to Junon to join up with the others and I'll bring it up with them."

"Heh. Sure thing." Reno whipped out his phone.

"And delete that voice mail too."

"Oh yeah, sure. No problem." Reno grinned. "I'll get right on that."

Cloud's eyes narrowed. "...There never was a voice mail, was there?"

"That's for me to know, Spike." Reno cheekily replied before turning his attention to the person on the other end of the phone.

Cloud stepped over to remove Merciless from its harness and sit on his bed, watching Reno. Of all the Turks that Rufus could have sicced on Cloud, he'd chosen the loud-mouthed, obnoxious one. There had to be a deeper reasoning behind that, though the what was lost on him. Reno was a Turk, nothing was ever right out in the open. Cloud could only hope it wasn't going to cause problems when he and the others finally tracked down Weiss and Genesis.

\------------------------------------------------------------

Vincent's eyes opened slowly and then he froze. He was lying on his back, but above him was a _very_ different ceiling than the last one he remembered seeing. Where was he?

"You're in Khymera Enviro General Hospital in Junon." A low, deep voice spoke up to Vincent's right. "Your companions went to get something to eat, I believe."

Vincent swung his head over, grimacing briefly when his neck cracked, and focused on the speaker. "...Veld?"

Vincent's old friend and the former leader of the Turks smiled slightly. "Hello, Vincent." He greeted him. "Still looking fairly good for an old man, I have to say."

Vincent slowly moved to sit up, wincing and grimacing at every little pop or crack. "I certainly don't feel very good." He commented before re-focusing on Veld. "What are you doing here?"

"Would you believe that Felicia is expecting a baby?" Veld arched an eyebrow. "She got tired of my fussing, so she kicked me out of the room. I saw you being wheeled away from the CT, so I followed and when your companions decided it was a better idea to get food than to stand around fussing at you, I slipped in to see you for myself."

"Hm." Vincent leaned against the head of the bed and closed his eyes. "So your daughter is alright then. You succeeded."

"Yes...we were able to save her from Zirconiade." Veld sighed softly and leaned forward on the chair, resting his elbows on his legs and steepling his fingers. "It's good to see you out in the world, Vincent. It isn't so good that we're meeting again in a hospital, however."

Vincent gave the slightest flicker of a mirthless smile. "That which kept me young was taken from me, so I suppose I'll be as old as you in not too long...and in far worse shape from the sounds my bones are making." He opened his eyes to look over at Veld again. "I atoned for as long as I could, but my 'companions' as you're calling them wouldn't let me sleep any longer once they found me. In the end, I had to confront Hojo for what he'd done. I haven't been able to return to my long rest since, though I suppose I'll be at the Lifestream's judgement soon enough."

"Don't write yourself off just yet, Vincent." Veld sat up straight again. "This facility is the best in the world."

"That may be so, but I highly doubt a cure for old age has been found and unlike you, have not had the benefit of a natural aging." Vincent looked at his left hand and ran his right over the slightly prominent veins. "The process of reaching my chronological age may well be the end of me."

"Dire as always." Veld shook his head. "It's a relief to know you're still the same morose individual you were in the Turks."

"I suppose it is simply my nature." Vincent stretched out his hands, grimacing when the joints popped and he looked around himself, noticing his gauntlet and gun sitting atop his folded cloak on the table to his left. "Hm." He reached out and picked up his gauntlet and gun to bring over, putting his gauntlet back on and setting Cerberus on his lap before looking back at Veld. "So, who is Felicia's husband?"

"Ah." Veld grimaced. "One of my Turks. You met him before. The spiky haired redhead."

"...Do you mean Reno, or the other one?"

"Summons take me! No, not Reno." Veld shook his head in mild amusement. "Alexander. He and-" Veld abruptly froze, eyeing the doorway. He got to his feet quickly.

Vincent looked over as well and swore. In spite of his still aching body, he leapt off the bed and got between Veld and the encroaching darkness, half-aiming Cerberus at it. "Nero." He growled before the darkness swallowed them.

\------------------------------------------------------------

It had taken Zack a bit to make it out of the hospital and into Khymera Enviro itself and now he was staring at the directory, trying to figure out where to start looking for his fellow SOLDIERs. An elevator opened by him, but he ignored it, reading over the directory again in hopes that he'd missed something.

"........Zack?"

Zack turned his head to look at a man with disheveled auburn hair and bright mako green eyes wearing a sleeveless black version of the Shinra Infantry uniform. He tilted his head in puzzlement, not recognizing them. "Hey." He greeted the stranger anyway. He'd taken over commanding SOLDIER after he'd been promoted to First since Sephiroth wanted nothing to do with it, so it was highly likely he wouldn't know everyone while they'd still know who he was.

The auburn-haired man stared at Zack for several moments, and then a smile bloomed on his face. "Zack! By the Summons, it really is you!" He stepped forward as if to embrace the other man, but Zack stepped back.

"Whoa, man." He put his hands up. "I'm all about the bromance, but I don't think I know you."

"Huh? Oh." The man rubbed his hair sheepishly. "I forgot you'd never seen me with my helmet off." He looked back at Zack. "It's me. Kunsel."

".....Kunsel?" Zack thought about it for a moment, matching the voice up to his memories, and then his face broke out in a grin. "Oh man!" And then he was the one doing the hugging. "It's so great to see you!"

Kunsel laughed and patted Zack's back. "Likewise, man. Oh, you have no idea!" He waited for Zack to let go again and smiled for a few more seconds, but then became serious. "You wouldn't believe what the Infantry was spreading about you, Zack. They snuck some altered picture of you all shot up on your fanpage and it was all over the World Wide Network before we could do anything about it." Kunsel's expression darkened at the memory. "No one could figure out who'd done it, either."

Zack's own expression darkened, having a feeling he knew the picture Kunsel was talking about and he made a soft sound in his throat. "Listen, Kun. What're you doing right now? We should talk."

"Yeah, I agree." Kunsel put a hand on Zack's shoulder to point him in the right direction. "I'm on break and was going to grab a snack at the Sonic Donut. Come on."

The two of them walked out of the Khymera building and headed down the street, walking in silence at first.

"It wasn't a hoax." Zack spoke up at last, voice uncharacteristically soft.

Kunsel looked at him, and then promptly missed a step at the haunted look on the other man's face. ".....Zack?"

"It wasn't a hoax." Zack repeated. He lifted his eyes to look at Kunsel. "It really happened. On the cliffs over Midgar. I almost made it." Zack shook his head. "Not that it would have made a difference. I got cocky. We'd been doing so well...."

"Zack." Kunsel stopped and grabbed Zack's shoulders so he would as well. "What are you saying? What do you mean, it really happened? You're standing right here!"

Zack gave a ruined smile, which only served to alarm Kunsel more. "It's complicated, so let's just go with I came back in a clone body Hojo'd made and leave it like that." He shook his head and turned away. "I don't really want--" The hair on the back of his neck rose and he turned back toward the Khymera Enviro building. He and Kunsel watched in horror as the whole hospital side became swathed in pulsing darkness.

"Wh--What the hell?!" Kunsel took several steps back. "What _is_ that?!"

"......I don't know." Zack muttered. "But we need to get away from it." He grabbed Kunsel's wrist. "Now!" He took off running, dragging Kunsel with him until the other SOLDIER was able to catch his stride and run along with him. The two sprinted for several blocks before stopping again and turning back. The darkness was starting to retreat now, and they watched as it pulsed back into itself like a sickness going back from where it came from. Once it appeared to be gone, Kunsel started back toward the building, but Zack grabbed his arm.

"Kunsel, wait. We don't know what that was, it could be dangerous!"

Kunsel swatted his hand off and turned on him, expression furious. "We're SOLDIER, Zack! We go _toward_ danger, not away from it!"

"I said wait!" Zack pointed and Kunsel looked back to see that the same darkness that had swallowed the innards of the hospital was now writhing out the windows of Khymera Enviro itself.

They watched it writh and thrash like a living thing for several moments before it once more retreated. Their attention shifted moments later when a helicopter flew by overhead.

"Hey...." Kunsel squinted at it, watching as it buzzed the upper floors of Khymera Enviro."That's a Shinra copter. What's Shinra doing here?" He scowled. "I hope they weren't the ones who did this...."

It was a horrible irony how even former SOLDIER was suspicious of Shinra now and Zack gave a faint smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Hope not." Was the only thing he could say and the two of them watched as it peeled away from the building and headed toward them.

\------------------------------------------------------------

".....Shit." Reno grit his teeth, leaning back in the pilot's chair. "Please don't let that be what I think it is."

Rude, who was sitting in the co-pilot position, scowled and leaned forward. "Darkness...coming out of every window...." He and Reno looked at each other, and their respective expressions were bleak.

"......What?!" Cloud came over to the front and grabbed hold of the back of Rude's seat, having to yell to be heard over the engine. His complexion was rather pallid, as rides in small enclosed spaces didn't tend to agree with him. He stared at the darkness that was writhing out of the building ahead of them as if it was a living being all it's own. ".....Is that Khymera Enviro?"

"Yep." Reno pulled the copter back into a hover. "Looks like Deepground beat us here."

Cloud grit his teeth against the sudden wave of nausea the copter's change in movement caused. ".....Deepground?"

"Nero the Sable." Reno sounded calm, though inwardly he was panicking. "That's his power right there, yo."

Angeal, who they had found at the Gold Saucer wondering where everyone had gone off to, joined Cloud, looking over at the building and the darkness that was starting to dissipate. "Fly closer."

Reno licked dry lips. "Heh.....okay. You're the boss." Again the helicopter was sent into forward motion. They buzzed by the upper floors, going slow enough to look inside and noticing the absolute lack of anyone and the fact that some things had obviously been interrupted mid-action. It was a scene out of a bad horror movie.

"Look there." Rude pointed toward the ground on a return pass, more specifically at two human forms that seemed to be looking up in their direction. From their height, they couldn't see more than faint details, but Reno gamely turned the copter in their direction, dropping height as he approached until they could get a good look.

"It's Zack." Cloud braced himself on the back of Rude's chair as Reno brought the copter down to land, shutting off the engine and popping the side doors so Cloud and Angeal could get off. Cloud was more than happy to disembark, stumbling a bit when his feet contacted the street and then heading over to Zack and the stranger standing next to him.

"Cloud...." Zack's expression fell as guilt swept over him. All of Cloud's friends had been in that building, and he'd been told to look after them. Instead he'd gone off to socialize. He tried to force a smile anyway when Cloud made it over to them. "Copter rides still don't agree with you, huh....?"

Cloud brushed the question off. "What happened here?"

The man standing beside Zack looked a bit hostile, but Zack himself bit his lip and glanced at Khymera Enviro before looking back at Cloud and coming to stand at attention. Falling back on SOLDIER training was the only way he could keep his composure at the moment. "We arrived without incident and Vincent had been taken to get a CT scan. I.....I left your friends to go to Khymera Enviro itself. I was planning to talk to the former SOLDIERs and try and get some extra help, but then I ran into Kunsel here" He motioned to the man beside him. "and....and we came out here to talk while he was on break. Then that....that darkness showed up and...and....." His composure broke completely. "I'm sorry, Cloud! I know I should have stayed with them, but I just thought--"

"There's nothing you could have done." Cloud couldn't afford to think with his heart right now or he'd definitely have a breakdown. "Reno said it's Nero's power, though he didn't explain what that meant." He noticed Kunsel come to abrupt attention and looked back to see Angeal moving to join him.

Angeal nodded to Kunsel, but then he focused his attention on his once student. "Zack." He spoke firmly. "You need to calm down and focus on the now. What did you observe about the darkness?"

"Uhm...." Zack shook his head slightly. "It wasn't anything in general, I just had a feeling that I had to get away from it immediately." He looked over at the building and licked his lips. "I still don't want to go over there." He admitted.

Angeal nodded slightly and turned to Kunsel. "Anything to add, Infantryman?"

"Actually sir, I'm SOLDIER." Kunsel saluted. "Kunsel. Former Second Class. Khymera Enviro has us wear these uniforms....and no sir, nothing to add....except that I'd be willing to go over there if neccessary."

"I don't think that will be needed." Cloud spoke up, expression turning cold so he wouldn't start frantically worrying for his friends. "When we flew by the windows, we didn't see anyone--but I didn't see any sign of panic either." He grit his teeth. "It's like what happened in Kalm and Junon six months ago. People just vanishing." He had to keep calm, especially now. He had to believe his friends were alive, he had to keep a clear head. "So if this is Nero, then this confirms it. They want to revive Omega....this is what happened before."

Angeal turned to him. "What do you think we should do?"

"We're going to Deepground." Cloud said grimly. "And this time we're--" He paused when his phone rang and he hastily picked it up. "Hello?"

"Cloud?!" It was Cait's voice. "Oh, thank goodness ae got a hold of yae! It's terrible!"

"Cait?!" Cloud looked at Khymera Enviro's building. "Weren't you with the others?"

"Aye, but the hospital's been attacked! Ooh....it was Nero the Sable, Cloud! His darkness swallowed everyone up! Ae transferred tae a new body, so ae donnae know where they are!"

Cloud shut his eyes. "....Did you try to get a hold of Cid?"

"Aye, but his phone still goes tae voicemail. Ae hope he's alright...."

"We can't take the time to worry about that. Do you know how to get into Deepground?"

"Aye....well, ae know _a_ way. Ae donnae think yae'd be able tae get in that way, though." Cait was silent for several moments. "Shelke might be able tae help, though. Where are ye at the moment, lad?"

"Standing outside Khymera Enviro."

"Well then, make yaer way tae the WRO. Shelke and ae'll be waiting for yae." Cait hung up his end and Cloud shut his own phone to put it away. He looked reluctantly back at the waiting copter and sighed. "Well," He said. "let's head to the WRO HQ and pick up Shelke and Cait, then we'll get heading into Deepground and hopefully everyone will be alive and well when we get there."

"......Zack?" Kunsel looked questioningly at his friend.

".....You may as well come along, Kunsel." Zack told him. "It's a hell of a story, but we'll probably need all the help we can get on this one. I'll tell you what I can along the way, but I don't know all that much myself."

"None of us really do." Cloud spoke up as he reluctantly moved to re-board the copter. "Vincent's the only one besides Shelke who's been down there." He got on board and went to the front.

Reno glanced back at him. "Alright Cloud, what now?"

"Now we're going to the WRO to pick up Shelke and Cait. After that, hopefully Shelke will be willing to show us the way into Deepground and then we're launching a rescue mission."

".........Fantastic. I can hardly wait." Reno flicked the switches to get the blades started up. "You know I'll need to clear this with Rufus right?"

"You can feel free to dally about with red tape." Cloud replied, turning to go head to the back and strap in. "But while you're doing that, _I'm_ rescuing my friends and the other people who got taken."

Reno sighed softly, the exhalation covered by the sound of the copter and he lifted off the ground to head for their next destination. The truth of the matter was Rufus probably wouldn't care, and would in fact encourage the mission. Though Reno had never entered Deepground himself however, he'd heard things from the old Turks who had and 'literal Hell' apparently only began to cover the description. He was _not_ looking forward to this in the least.

\------------------------------------------------------------

It could have been a lot worse, Vincent supposed, but it could definitely have been better.

When the darkness had enveloped them, he and Veld had immediately grabbed onto the other's arm and hung on so they wouldn't lose each other. To Vincent's surprise however, the darkness didn't try to actually absorb them but merely held them. He couldn't see Veld and he could barely feel his friend's artifical arm through the gauntlet, but he still hung on to him for all he was worth. Somehow they would survive, somehow they would escape. They were Turks, after all.

Just as he was trying to think of a course of action in the odd silence however, the darkness parted and they found themselves standing among others in what appeared to be a giant cage. Slowly they let go of each other and looked around.

Vincent could immediately hear quiet crying and low-toned voices, both from within his own cage and from ones on either side. The occupants all seemed to be patients, doctors or hospital visitors--civilians. He slowly made his way among them to the front of the cage and looked out--then started swearing softly.

"Veld." He called back to his friend. "What do you know of Deepground?"

"......This and that." Veld moved to join him, and then he too swore. "Aha. Fantastic...." He looked to Vincent. "I take it you've been down here before?"

"Unfortunately." Vincent looked down and then slowly reached through the bars with his gauntlet to hook his fingers into the lock and start yanking on it. He doubted he could break it with anything short of Death Gigas' strength, but he figured it was worth a try. The lock of course didn't budge, and he gave up after a few moments. "This isn't good."

"Indeed." Veld looked around, gritting his teeth and then giving a start when he heard a woman in an ajoining cage give a deep, low moan. "Felicia?" He headed over there. "Felicia, is that you in there?"

There was a pause and another moan. ".....Yes." A deep but still female voice answered. "Father, what's going on? Where are we?" She sounded surprisingly calm for a woman not only in labor but also in a foreign and decidedly not sterile environment.

"......That isn't important." Veld answered after a few moments and glanced over at Vincent. "We'll get you out of here."

"Don't make promises you don't know you can keep, Veld." Vincent warned him before gripping the bars of the door and starting to rock and shove it back and forth, hoping it was as rusted as it looked and could be broken.

"Damnit....the construction is solid, I'll give them that." He supposed it would have to be. In a damp environment like this, everything metal likely had stainless steel cores to keep them from deteriorating completely. He stopped and stared at the door again.

_Maybe I can...._ He closed his eyes, reaching down within the depths of his mind. He saw it as 'levels', with Galian--the easiest for him to command--at the top and Death Gigas at the bottom as the most quiet. He reached down past the comfortable den Galian resided in and immediately hit a maelstrom. He gave a soft audible gasp and his fingers curled tightly around the bars of the cage to balance himself as he fought past the gibbering insanity of Hell Masker. Finally making it past that level, he found himself in a lonely darkness.

_Lend me your strength._ He bid to the monster and reached out for it. Death Gigas groaned and only shrank further away. While Galian was malleable and willing to give Vincent help when he asked for it and Hell Masker was anxious to get out and cause as much murder and mayhem as it could, Death Gigas' only wish was to be left alone. That the first thing Vincent had done as soon as he'd figured out how to quiet the voices in his mind was lock them away probably didn't help matters.

_Help me._ He couldn't believe he was pleading with it and ignored the cackling that broke out 'above'. _Lend me your strength._ It was harder to reach for it, to get it to obey. Normally it was the adrenaline that came with near death that allowed him to grasp hold and use Hell Masker and Death Gigas, but he felt no such thing right now. If he could only borrow Death Gigas' strength without transforming...

"Vinny!"

Vincent's eyes snapped open and he jerked back at the sudden loud voice so close by. He almost started to growl before he realized who was looking at him _from the other side of the bars._

"Yuffie?" He intoned stupidly. "How did you get out there?"

Yuffie beamed at him cheerfully and held up a set of lockpicks. "Never leave home without them! Good to see you awake, by the way." She then set to picking the lock, and within a few moments it popped open. "Baah, so easy! You'd think Deepground would try harder."

Vincent gave a soft sigh, reaching through the bars to pull the lock off and open the door. "Are you alright?"

"Hm? Oh, I'm peachy! No time to chat though Vince, I've got more locks to pick!" And she bounded off to the next cage.

Vincent opened the door and stepped out, noticing that while other doors stood open, very few people had ventured out of the cages. He was glad for that, as--unless his eyes were decieving him--there were a lot of people in each cage, the row of which stretched as far as he could see.

He then looked over toward Yuffie, who was continuing to open cages at a fast pace and he shook his head slightly. She was not alright. If that frenzied energy was any indication, she was close to having a hysterical breakdown. He wasn't surprised by this, considering the situation and how they had gotten here, but panic in one person was likely to incite panic in others and it could cause a hell of a stampede.

_Damnit._ He looked at his hands, which held a slight tremor in them and wondered what had happened to not only cause his friends to find it neccessary for him to end up in Junon but also that he had no recollection of the trip. He turned to the railing overlooking the mako lake surrounding the reactor and gripped it hard, looking down into the glowing green. There were too many people here, an entire hospital full if his guess was correct. How were they to get this many people--many of whom were hospital patients and therefore unlikely to be fully ambulatory--to not only move in an orderly fashion, but keep them from panicking _and_ get them to the surface?

He felt a hand touch his back and he looked over to see that Tifa had found him. "Vincent." He spoke quietly. "How are you feeling?"

".....Well enough, for the time being." Vincent exhaled softly and straightened up. "Have you seen Cloud?"

"Cloud sent us ahead to Junon after you collapsed." Tifa explained. "He left Zack in charge, but....I don't think he's here either. He said he was going to talk to the SOLDIERs that work for Khymera Enviro to enlist help in finding and looking out for Genesis." She frowned. "Red XIII is here, and of course you saw Yuffie. Reeve and Cait were with us as well....but no sign of Zack, and we couldn't find Angeal before we left the Saucer." She looked to Vincent. "That leaves you."

Vincent arched a brow. "'Leaves me'?" He repeated.

"To lead us."

He immediately gave her a deadpan look. "You're joking."

"Do I look like I'm joking?" Tifa put her hands on her hips, her eyes meeting his with a surprisingly challenging gaze. "We need leadership, especially now. Cloud put you in charge before, so he has faith in you. Therefore, I have faith in you."

Vincent turned back to the mako lake and brought his right hand up to pinch his brow. "I'm not a leader."

"Cloud said that once upon a time too, and we put _him_ in charge when he barely knew any of us. Vincent..." She put a hand on his arm. "We aren't helpless without a leader, but having someone to give orders....you know Deepground better than any of us. You know how to get out."

"Maybe, but this area looks unfamilar. I don't recall any cages like this around." Vincent shook his head. "It's possible the map you sent my phone that time is still on it, but even still..." There wouldn't be reception this far down, they had no way of calling for help.

"I think they took your cellphone at the hospital." Tifa explained. She eyed his gauntlet and gun. "Although....hm. Yuffie strikes again."

"Ah?" Vincent glanced over at the ninja in question. "Oh....you mean these." He held up his gauntlet arm and put his other hand on Cerberus. "Hm. Now I wish I'd put my cloak back on as well. A miracle I wasn't in hospital clothing on top of it, my 'coolness factor' is lessened enough as it is."

From anyone else the comment wouldn't have seemed so odd, but because Vincent had said it, Tifa surprised even herself by breaking out in a fit of giggles. "'Coolness factor'?!" She repeated incredulously. "I never would have expected you to say something like that!"

"And that's why it worked." Vincent sighed softly and turned away. "Alright." He said. "There are too many people here for us to rescue. The more we move at one time, the more chance something will happen and if panic breaks out, people could be trampled or pushed over the rail into the mako. I don't like this--believe me when I say that--but we'll have to leave them here."

"We can't do that!" Tifa looked at him like he was insane. "Who knows what could happen to them!"

"Then stay." Vincent looked back at her. "Stay back with the others and protect them. I'll head to the surface--wait. You said Reeve was here?" He glanced around, but not immediately seeing the man in question, he re-focused on her. "If I can find Reeve, he, I and Yuffie will head to the surface and once we can get to a phone, Reeve can call in the WRO."

Tifa frowned and crossed her arms. "You expect Red and I to be able to protect all these people if Deepground soldiers show up? And what do you need Yuffie for?"

"We don't have many options available to us, though you're more than welcome to try and evacuate them yourselves. As for why I'd take Yuffie..." He looked over in her direction. "It isn't that I need her help. It's that I worry she will have a gibbering breakdown if I leave her here."

"......You might be right about that. She _is_ being rather jumpy." Tifa sighed heavily. "I still can't believe you're being so callous, though."

Vincent shot her an irritated look. "Herding hospital visitors, doctors, nurses and their patients--many likely who will need to be carried--through the bowels of Deepground and keeping them safe and calm is simply impossible. We don't have the manpower neccessary to do it. There _are_ monsters, they _will_ panic and people _will_ die. If you want me to be the leader as you just strongly implied, then I _expect to be obeyed!_ "

Tifa took a step back, eyes widening in surprise. It wasn't just at Vincent raising his voice, but at how remarkably like Sephiroth he'd sounded when doing it. After a few moments however, she recovered. "......Alright." She said. "We'll do it your way."

Vincent gave a gusty exhalation and turned away from her, scanning their surroundings again to try and catch a glimpse of Reeve, or even pinpoint Veld so he could go over things with him as well. He prided himself on his self-control, and losing his temper at anyone wasn't something he generally considered acceptable behavior. It had to be the build up, he told himself. Too many stressful factors were piling up too quickly for him to cope. He would do just as he said as quickly as possible and head for the surface with Yuffie and Reeve. Once the WRO was contacted....what then? Contacting Cloud, he supposed, but _what then_? Would he head back down? Vincent was chronologically the same age as Veld and the former Turk leader was seeming to do alright, but what if Vincent suffered another attack like the one that had presumedly scared his friends enough to have him sent to Junon? He didn't have a hope of fighting Weiss or Nero, let alone Genesis.

No. This was a fight he'd have to leave to his younger friends. If anything, the extent of his duties would be leading the WRO forces back down and then leading them back out again with the patients and the medical staff. Obviously things weren't quite as simple as all that, but he could only plan for so many variables and if they encountered Weiss, Nero or Genesis at any point, they'd likely be dead anyway. His only hope was that in their arrogance they would leave their victims for a while, long enough to allow for rescue. He had a feeling deep in his gut that this was not going to be the case however, and that everyone he was leaving behind was going to die.

He walked off a little ways, leaving Tifa standing there and turned to the mako lake again, staring at the glowing surface as if it held the answers he sought.

But maybe it did.

"Aerith?" He called softly. Was this mako still connected to the Lifestream? Could she hear him? Possibly help them? He stared downward, but no answer came.

"Aerith?" He called softly again, and then after a pause. "Father? Lucrecia...?" Why was he calling for them? He furrowed his brows, wondering at his own traitorous mind. It didn't seem to matter though, he was recieving no answers.

He leaned on the railing, gripping it and closed his eyes as a feeling of hopelessness washed over him. He'd failed as a Turk, and he couldn't even keep his most powerful monster out of enemy hands. What good was he, really? If he left, they would almost certainly die, but if he stayed the same outcome was just as likely. He'd let his heart dictate for his head and it had gotten Lucrecia murdered, the protomateria stolen and Chaos taken away. Tifa thought he could lead? He couldn't even show common sense when it mattered!

_I should have returned to my atonement after Meteor...._

"Vincent."

Vincent gave a gusty sigh and lifted his head, opening his eyes to look over at Veld when he approached. "How is your daughter faring?"

"Hm? Ah. She's fine." Veld came to lean on the railing beside Vincent, looking out at the mako lake himself. "Considering she's going to be delivering without an epidural however, I expect there will be some awfully angry screaming soon." He chuckled softly. "If it's one time when you know how much your wife hates that you stuck such a being inside of her, it's when she's trying to get it out. Poor Alexander."

"Hm." Vincent slowly uncurled his hands from the rusted railing. "I'll be heading to the surface with a couple of my friends soon. Hopefully we'll be able to get to a phone quickly and can call in the WRO to help evacuate everyone down here....do you think you can help to keep things calm down here in the meantime?"

Veld arched a brow at him. "I can try, but if you've been down here before, you know that if their soldiers come, there isn't much I'll be able to do. I have materia in my prosthetic, but one can only cast so many times and I don't expect that will do much good regardless."

Vincent sighed heavily. "I know. I did a good job decimating their population before, but even I'm not so arrogant as to think I got all of them....and I know Weiss and Nero are alive." He shut his eyes for several moments, then opened them again to look at his old friend bleakly. "To be honest, I don't know if....if there's a way everyone will survive this situation."

"That's because you weren't a Turk long enough to get the mentality of one." Veld responded. He gave a mirthless smile. "Your companions--your friends--they're here too, right? We might not be able to defeat Deepground, but we'll survive. You just need to call for help, Vincent. Hopefully this WRO can do something."

"I hope so....though I wouldn't hold my breath on that either." Vincent turned away. There was no more time to delay, they had to go and go now. He clapped a hand on Veld's shoulder briefly. "If my friends give you any grief, just tell them I put you in charge. Hopefully that will be enough." He looked at his friend seriously. "Good luck, Veld."

"I'll probably need that." Veld nodded to him. "Good luck to you as well, Vincent."

"Thank you." Vincent turned away to locate Yuffie and Reeve. No more time to waste. He could only hope that Weiss took his time before beginning the sacrifices to Omega. Maybe that 'pure will be spared for the cause' business Weiss had mentioned the last time would delay things a little.

\------------------------------------------------------------

Cloud staggered to the wall of the World Regenesis Organization building in Edge and leaned heavily against it, trembling and dry heaving. He hated enclosed places, he hated helicopters, he hated all of it. He'd done alright earlier on, but when Zack and Kunsel had been added to the people sitting in the back it had just gotten too crowded for him and he'd ended up barely keeping himself from panicking.

Zack had never figured out that his 'motion sickness' had started only after the Modeoheim mission, but Cloud couldn't really blame him, as he hadn't _known_ Cloud before the Modeoheim mission. However, when all you could do was hold on for dear life while the vehicle you were being transported in had become a metal, spinning death trap with Genesis copies forcing it into the side of a mountain and then you never recieved therapy for it because Shinra was rubbish at taking care of their Infantry....wouldn't you become a little claustrophobic?

"Deep breaths man, deep breaths." Zack had come over and was rubbing Cloud's back, trying to be helpful and looking at the blond in mild concern.

"Eugh....just....gimmie a minute." Cloud hung his head, gulping air to keep the contents of his stomach where they belonged. "Go on and--urp--head in with the others...."

"You sure, man?"

"Yes." Cloud forced out. "Go." Didn't Zack realize that if he lost his battle against his stomach that he didn't want to puke in front of him?

"Okay man." Zack rubbed his back again before moving to head inside after the others.

Cloud took several minutes to calm his stomach and convince it not to evac anything. Kneeling down, he pressed his cheek against the wall and stayed like that with his eyes shut, resting for a few moments.

_"What are you doing?"_

Cloud jumped, eyes snapping open and then he swore, covering his eyes with his hand briefly. "Damnit...I actually forgot about you."

_"Well, Strife?"_ Sephiroth actually sounded annoyed. _"Time is wasting, isn't it? Every moment you delay is a moment you're not locating your precious friends."_

Cloud moved to get to his feet with a heavy sigh. _"You're right."_ He conceeded. _"Now isn't the time to be taking a break."_ He looked at the entrance of the WRO, sighed softly and continued inside only to end up walking into a potential battle.

Shelke stood in the hallway, eyes glowing orange and her energy sabers out and activated. She was pointing them at the others and ignoring Cait's frantic attempts to talk her down. Reno and Rude were tensed, but he seemed reluctant to get into a fight with her. Zack was also trying to calm her down, and Angeal seemed to simply be standing back, watching.

"Shelke!" Cloud stepped to the front and planted his feet, facing her down. "What the hell are you doing?!"

Shelke's gaze flickered to him briefly, then returned to the focus of her attention. ".....You came with Turks." She stated. "Why?"

_She doesn't like the Turks?_ That was interesting, considering her attachment to Vincent. "They gave me a ride here." He explained. "Now stand down."

Even though he wasn't the only one who'd been telling her to calm, for some reason it was to Cloud that she finally listened. With a blink her eyes returned to blue and she flicked off her energy sabers, tucking them back into the sheaths on her legs.

"Cloud Strife." She addressed him, turning most of her focus toward him, though her eyes continued to flick to Rude and Reno behind him. "Cait Sith informed me that there is an issue with which I might be of assistance, concerning Deepground."

"Yes." Cloud relaxed his posture slightly, though he still wondered at her reaction to the Turks. "According to Reno, Nero the Sable attacked Khymera Enviro. My friends were there when this happened....and I think they would have been taken to Deepground, like the last time. Vincent's the only one who's been down there before, and I don't know the way in."

Shelke's pupils had dilated at mention of Nero, though Cloud was sure Cait would have told her all this already and he was just reiterating what she already knew. She frowned slightly and furrowed her brow, then finally sighed softly.

"There are several entrances to Deepground, though many likely remain sealed off. The route Vincent Valentine took was most likely the President's personal entrance as I had instructed him, located on the main floor. I am aware of that entrance, but I have never traversed it. If your friends have indeed been taken to Deepground, then that entrance will take you on a very long route before you would arrive at the most likely location. However..." She trailed off and looked at the Turks.

Cloud sighed and pinched his brow briefly. There was no time for these kinds of delays when he had to find his friends before something happened to them. "Vincent was at the hospital too, Shelke. He's....getting older and when I sent them to Junon, he was unconscious."

It was a bit underhanded in Cloud's opinion to use such information to produce action, but it did result in the desired reaction when Shelke took a sharp, startled breath before she narrowed her eyes slightly. "I see." She spoke simply. "In this case, I shall lead you down there myself." She glanced at the Turks again, but then looked back at Cloud. "Is their presence required?"

"Unfortunately." Cloud replied. "Rufus seems to be insisting that going into Deepground be done with a member or two of Shinra personnel." Much easier than explaining he'd been blackmailed by Reno, anyway.

"....Very well." She put a hand on one of her energy sabers. "But if they do anything I do not like, I will take appropriate action."

"Oh goodie." Reno sighed. "Well in that case kid, what's that leave us since you've got such an issue?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "If I was given the freedom, I would kill you. Fortunately for you, I seem to not have that option. Rather, I will use a Sleep materia."

_She_ really _doesn't like the Turks._ Cloud didn't know much about her history, but he was starting to guess that the Turks had something to do with her having ended up in Deepground. As both Reno and Rude were around Cloud's age, he knew they hadn't been involved in it, but the business suit attire seemed to be enough for her.

He sighed. "We should get going, then." He told her. "Just tell us where to go." He switched his attention to Cait. "Are you going to be coming too?"

"Nae." Cait shook his head. "Ae think ae'll stay here and keep an eye on Denzel and Marlene." He chuckled softly. "Besides, yae know ae'm useless in a fight without Mog."

"Mm, right." Cloud hoped the WRO would stay safe, but he couldn't worry about them right now, he had his friends to rescue.

"Ready when you are, Shelke." He told her.

"Very well." Shelke moved to step past them and head back outside, the Turks, Angeal and Kunsel readily following. Zack paused by Cloud and put a hand on his shoulder.

"You gonna be alright, man?"

Cloud sighed softly. "I hope so." He said. Maybe if he kept his eyes closed, he could pretend the helicopter wasn't so crowded.

Zack gave him a slight smile and squeezed his shoulder, then moved to follow the others. With another soft sigh, Cloud moved to follow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cloud's [swords](http://i48.tinypic.com/dlkl51.jpg).
> 
> Crossposted to [DeviantArt](http://naosuloff.deviantart.com/gallery/34469925) and [FF.net](http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5454968/13/The_Planets_Enemy).


	14. Hell Below

It had become clear very quickly that the route Shelke took them through to get into Deepground was the same path Vincent had taken about half a year before for the same purpose. Bullet casings were abundant, as were the shattered carapaces of Bizarre Bugs and the occasional live one, easily dealt with by one of the four swordsmen. As they continued further, following the path Vincent took, they also came across the occasional human remains. Well past rotting and stripped down to bone and dried tissue, they were unpleasant sights but nothing Cloud and the others were unable to handle.

When they found an elevator just past the remains of a couple of large robots--very much like the one Cloud had noticed under the stairs in Shinra Manor in fact--and took it to the administrative level from which they would have to proceed, the smell of rotting flesh became much more apparent. Not being in a damp environment like the others and without Bizarre Bugs to scavenge the remains, they weren't decomposing as quickly. They proceeded past that room very quickly. In spite of the smell in the next room they found however, here Cloud found himself compelled to pause.

"What are these things?" With a hand over mouth and nose to block out part of the decay smell and muffling his voice, he approached a display case to peer at the green crystal inside of it. "Aside from size and color, doesn't this look a lot like...that other crystal?" He inwardly winced, belatedly remembering the Turks that were with them.

"Other crystal? Oh." Zack stepped over too, broken glass crunching under his boots and peered into the display case as well. "They sure are pretty, but I think they're just materia." He reached in to grasp the large crystal and take a closer look at it. "Yeah. This is a Poison materia. Wonder why it looks like this though?"

"Deepground was experimenting with the formation of materia." Shelke spoke up, glancing narrowly at Rude and Reno. "They hypothesized that changing the shape might enhance the magic output. The materia in this room are some successful results of those experiments."

"It doesn't feel any different to me." Zack said. "And it sure would be hard to junction." He held up the Buster blade to indicate the empty materia slots."

"Indeed." Shelke agreed, moving to step past them into the next room, starting to look a little ill. "There is proper materia in the next room however, I believe." He glanced back. "Time is of the essence if you wish any chance at all of finding your friends, Cloud Strife."

"Right." Cloud agreed and moved to follow Shelke. As she'd said, in the next room was properly shaped materia and they paused once again so that Angeal, Kunsel and Zack could grab anything that might be useful and then quickly continued onward. The remainder of the trip through the administrative floors and the elevators they had to take was mostly uneventful save for the continuing discovery of rotting corpses and when they finally reached the large cargo elevator that Shelke told them would take them to Deepground proper, everyone was well sick of the smell of death.

As they descended into the depths of the earth, the temperature rising, Cloud looked around the cargo elevator and realized a quite potentially dire problem.

He walked over to their guide. "Shelke." He addressed her. "There are broken mako containers on this thing and....I realize I should have thought of this sooner, but is there a lot of exposed mako in Deepground?"

"It is quite possible." Shelke responded, tilting her head slightly at him.

"Shit." Cloud pushed his hair back and looked off at the far wall for a few moments. "I might actually have to sit this one out, then. I seem to ah....zone out around too much mako."

"Hm. Problematic." Shelke thought for a bit, then nodded to herself. "Do not worry, Cloud Strife. I believe there are measures in Deepground to take care of that, for when receiving 'guests'."

"Guests?" Cloud arched a brow at her.

"Such as President Shinra." Shelke elaborated coldly.

"Oh." Cloud was distracted when the elevator came to a shuddering stop in front of what looked like an enormous vault door. They all watched as it slid back and opened, releasing a sudden assault of mako smell that made the SOLDIERs gag and nearly sent the Turks to their knees. Shelke was the only one unphased and after a few moments, she stepped forward into Deepground. Once the others recovered, they forced themselves to follow.

Cloud felt hazy almost immediately, as unlike at Mideel, this mako was undiluted. As a result, when he saw the sight before him, he was almost certain that he was hallucinating.

"Is that....a city?" He stepped forward to the railing and grasped it, staring at what appeared to be buildings surrounding the mako reactor in the middle. "Zack! Are you seeing this, or am I imagining things?"

Zack came to stand beside him and leaned forward, squinting. "No. Those are definitely buildings." He agreed. "A whole underground city from the looks of things."

"An undergound city. The Midgar below Midgar." Cloud shook his head slowly. "I thought the slums were bad, but this is definitely worse."

"Our own Hell." Shelke stepped over, holding a mask out to Cloud. "Put this on. It should lessen the effects." She too looked over the city, and then sighed. "Normally the mako surrounding the reactor would be covered. It was uncovered before as per Weiss' orders to make the sacrifices for Omega easier. Hopefully the mask will still work for you."

"Hopefully." Cloud agreed. He reached out to take the mask and put it on. Taking in a few breaths, he shuddered as his ears seemed to pop and suddenly he wasn't looking at the world through such a green-filled haze. "Oh, good."

"If your friends are alive, they will likely be on the far side of this." Shelke turned away. "We will have to hurry."

"Lead on, Shelke." Cloud glanced at Zack, and then at the others. Kunsel looked a little shocked and disturbed at his surroundings, while Angeal seemed to be nervously checking the sword Zack had won for him at the Saucer, junctioning and unjunctioning one of the materia. Reno and Rude had the same masks Cloud did. Rude seemed calm, but then it was hard to read anything on him as long as he wore his sunglasses. Reno on the other hand appeared to have gone pasty pale, his eyes wide in imminent panic as he looked around.

Cloud walked over to them, planting himself in front of Reno. "Nervous, Reno?" He asked almost caustically. "Know something we don't?"

Reno focused on him, and Cloud heard him gulp. "I've never been down here, yo. How would I know anything?"

"If you don't know anything, then why do you look so scared?"

The Turk's eyes abruptly hardened, and he leaned forward slightly. "'Cause Nero the Sable and Weiss the Immaculate are down here somewhere, and I ain't keen on getting killed, yo. This business ain't things Turks are meant to be messing with."

"Then you shouldn't have come." Cloud turned away. "Alright! Let's move out!" No more wasting time. His friends lives depended on him finding them quickly.

\------------------------------------------------------------

It had been easy going at first with Reeve and Yuffie trailing along behind Vincent as he tried to find a way out and other than the occasional Gargoyle swooping down on them, there hadn't been any monsters or other enemies. He had begun hoping that escaping would be easy.

He should have known better.

The first problem that developed was obvious--they were succumbing to the mako. With the experiments that had been done on Vincent, he was fine--in fact, the mako smell seemed to be alleviating the pain of his increasing arthritis--but Reeve and Yuffie were becoming progressively slower and more sluggish as they went along. Soon Vincent was checking behind himself every few moments to make sure they hadn't gone tumbling over the railing or simply collapsed. Yuffie was leaning heavily on Reeve, who was relying heavily on the railing to stay upright and continue following Vincent when the second, more dangerous problem showed itself.

They had just managed to scale some stairs when darkness abruptly oozed out of the grating ahead of them and coalesced into one of the last people Vincent had wanted to run into.

"Nero." Vincent growled, bracing himself in case Reeve or Yuffie ran into him. His hand dropped to Cerberus, but he didn't draw the weapon.

Nero tilted his head and gave a slow blink, regarding Vincent with apparent bemusement. "Vincent Valentine." He spoke at last, lips barely moving. "What a pleasant surprise. My brother and I thought you would have died by now, but it seems that your decay has been slower than we had anticipated."

"It's called old age." Vincent did draw Cerberus now, aiming it at the Tsviet. "Let us pass."

"Let you--ah yes, I see." Nero's gaze shifted to Yuffie and Reeve briefly before returning to Vincent. "They are of little concern to me. But _you_ on the other hand...." He snapped his wings open, the darkness that made up the spaces where the membrane should have been, writhing. Before Vincent had time to do more than instinctively protect his face, the darkness enveloped him.

Unlike earlier when the darkness had just been used as a method of transport, this time it was not silent. Distant voices began to encroach, talking, screaming, crying. All around Vincent, overlapping into a discordant cacophony. He hunched up, clapped his hands over his ears to try and drown it out, but it continued, hammering in his skull. He squeezed his eyes shut, gritting his teeth against the terror. This was a nightmare!

He felt cold things skitter over him like spiders made of ice. Over his limbs, face and torso where they seemed to gather over his heart. All at once, the discomfort became real pain stabbing into his chest and drawing a scream of agony out of him. Jerking upright from the pain, his eyes flashed open. For a moment he thought he saw something in the inky blackness staring back with eyes made of molten gold, and then he found himself spat out onto a hard stone surface. He scrambled to get to his feet, hand to his chest.

"Oh. Well, this was not what I expected." Vincent focused on Nero when the younger man materialized in front of him. The Tsviet tilted his head at Vincent, as if curious. "It would seem that I will simply have to do this another way. Very well." He lunged forward, hands reaching for Vincent, dark-nailed fingers curled like claws.

Vincent threw himself backward, wincing when his aged body protested. He had no idea what Nero intended, and he didn't plan on finding out if he could help it. Taking in his surroundings with a quick glance, he realized that this was the last place he'd fought Nero, a twisted dimension of molten lava and floating rocks. He brought Cerberus around and fired off rapidly, but every shot was met with darkness, absorbing his bullets. How could he possibly fight him like this?

He continued to jump backward, but Nero seemed to be enjoying the chase, apparently allowing Vincent to stay just ahead of him and tire himself. He knew the older man couldn't keep evading him for much longer.

 _I have no choice._ Vincent threw open the padlock in his mind and invited the killer out to play. He came to a stop, the energy of transformation overtaking his body. When it had faded once more, Hell Masker stood in Vincent's place. Like with Chaos and Galian, it too had a changed appearance from when Vincent had first learned of its presence. Hell Masker wore a black trenchcoat, buckled up all the way to the neck. His mask was bone white, completely smooth and featureless save for the eye holes from which scarlet eyes stared. Cerberus had been replaced with a chainsaw, but across his back was strapped a rifle. Hell Masker didn't take notice of that however, instead focusing his eyes on Nero, who had stopped to watch the transformation take place and was now staring at him in puzzlement.

"Another form?" Nero said at last, musingly. "Hm." He gave a wide smile, unnerving not only because of his suddenly revealed sharp teeth, but because he apparently didn't know how to make the expression regardless. "Good. I was concerned this wouldn't be a challenge."

Hell Masker responded to this sentiment by grasping the chainsaw in both hands and revving the motor.

Nero's smile disappeared, though his eyes still showed amusement and he extended his hands. Darkness swirled around them, and when it faded once more he held a handgun in each hand. Without giving Hell Masker further time to prepare, he began firing.

Hell Masker gave a sibilant hiss and rushed forward, swinging with the chainsaw. Much to Vincent's inward dismay however, while the bullets were piercing into his flesh readily enough, the chainsaw was being deflected by darkness every time it should have made contact. Finally Hell Masker flung his chainsaw in absolute frustration, only to watch it be swallowed by the darkness.

"Hm. And what did you hope to accomplish?" Nero paused to reload, dropping his spent cartridges to have them promptly replaced by new ones through the darkness.

Hell Masker hissed again. He didn't seem to be afflicted by the same aging problem as Vincent, but he was still injured and once he fell, this was over. There had to be _some_ way to defeat Nero!

While Nero appeared to be gloating over his apparent victory, Vincent tried to think of a solution. Before he could begin to seriously give it any thought however, he heard an unexpected noise and Hell Masker looked up in time to see his chainsaw falling toward his head.

He launched himself backwards, only to give a scream of pain as the rotating blade sliced over his body before hitting the ground and spinning in a stuttering circle before the chain broke and flew off the walkway into the lava. Hell Masker looked down at the damage to find that the chainsaw had sliced down across his body from one shoulder to the opposite hip. The wound didn't seem to be overly deep, but it was large and far more painful to the monster than the bullet wounds were.

Taking stock, Hell Masker went to lunge toward Nero anyway, enraged at being hurt by his own weapon. His foot slipped on something behind himself however and he went down hard onto his hands and knees. Hell Masker quickly scrambled back up again while Nero watched in idle amusement, evidently in no rush to finish his opponent off. Hell Masker looked behind himself and then turned to pick up the rifle that had been strapped to his back and then cut free by the chainsaw.

 _Death Penalty?_ It wasn't in the handgun form Vincent had last used as Chaos, but was instead in its original state as a rifle with only a tassel decoration on the end of the barrel to in any way indicate it was special. Hell Masker stared at it in confusion for several moments before turning back to Nero and firing at him.

The darkness appeared once again in order to absorb the bullets and for a moment Vincent felt despair. Then he saw Nero's eyes widen in surprise and watched him stagger back. The darkness dissipated to reveal a blooming hole in his chest where the bullet had hit him.

Hell Masker wasted no time. Now knowing that Death Penalty's bullets would work even through the darkness, he fired off shot after shot, each shot knocking Nero off balance and not giving him the chance to retaliate. He advanced on the other man, firing as quickly as the shotgun would let him until Nero finally collapsed to his knees.

"Hgn..." Nero looked up to see Hell Masker coming over. "You may....vanquish me....but you will....not escape...."

Hell Masker pointed the barrel at Nero's head. ".....You were born of Grimoire's experiments, weren't you?" His voice came out hollow from behind the mask, though at a higher pitch than Vincent's own voice.

"......That is....correct." Nero flashed his sharp teeth at Hell Masker. "I was the only....survivor of the....stagnant mako....experimentations."

"Then I am sorry." And with those words, Hell Masker pulled the trigger. A flower of blood bloomed on one side of Nero's head and again on the other side as he slowly fell.

The energy of transformation overtook Hell Masker's body and Vincent then took his place, promptly falling to his knees with a grunt of pain. He brought a hand up to press uselessly to the wounds riddling his torso. Hell Masker could endure most of the pain, but he could not and after only a few moments, he collapsed facedown.

 _At least I stopped one of them..._ He thought before darkness overtook his vision.

\------------------------------------------------------------

" _ **VINCENT!!!**_ "

Cloud and the others all froze in place as the anguished and panicked scream ripped through the mako-filled air.

"That was Yuffie...." Cloud started forward. "Yuffie! YUFFIE WHERE ARE--guh!" He found himself yanked back by his hair and a hand covering his mouth.

"Yelling down here is inadvisable." Shelke hissed by his ear before releasing him. "I believe I know from which her voice originated." She stepped past Cloud to lead the way, but even at a trot--about as fast as it was safe to travel along the walkways--it took almost five minutes for them to reach their objective.

They found Yuffie and Reeve sitting on the walkway, Yuffie had her face buried in Reeve's chest, sobbing against him. Reeve was awkwardly trying to comfort her and didn't seem to notice any of them until Cloud stepped over and crouched. When he looked up, his half-vacant expression told Cloud things were not going well.

"Oh. Clod." Reeve slurred. "Ish good yae've come. We need tae get oot ov 'ere."

Oh wonderful, the mako vapors were making Reeve talk like a drunk Cait Sith. "What happened?" Cloud asked, "To Vincent, I mean." Best to keep it simple.

"Vincento wa," Yuffie started rambling in Wutaiese. "atashi-tachi to atta. Kare wa atashi-tachi o shutoku suru tsumoridattaga, sonogo Nero wa arawareta to kare o totta!"

Even better. Cloud put a hand to his face. "And what's that in Gaian?"

"She said Nero took him." Reno spoke up. He looked around warily. "We should hurry and get out of here, yo."

"Then you and Rude can get them out of here, and the rest of us will continue on to find the others."

"Uh uh." Reno made an 'x' with his arms. "No can do, spike. I'm supposed to stick with you, yo."

Cloud stood up to face them. "Then Rude can do it."

Rude looked at his partner, looked at Cloud and then mutely shook his head.

Cloud put a hand to his face again. " _Fine_. Any volunteers, then?"

After a few moments of silence, Angeal stepped forward. "I'll take them."

Cloud arched a brow at him. "Are you sure?"

"Yes." Angeal stepped forward to hoist Reeve up and tucked an arm around Yuffie's waist to out right carry her. She squeaked, but didn't seem to have the presence of mind to fight back. "I'm strong enough to help both of them. I'll get them out of here."

"Alright." Cloud stepped back to let him past and the others also moved out of the tall SOLDIERs way. Cloud caught a worried look on Zack's face, but then turned away. "Let's continue on, everyone."

 _"He answered too readily."_ Sephiroth seemed as troubled as Zack looked. _"I'm not sure I like this."_

 _"Do you think he'd hurt my friends?"_ Cloud asked him before remembering Sephiroth wouldn't care.

 _"......I'm concerned he may hurt_ himself, _Strife."_ In that moment he sounded completely sane, worried for a friend. Cloud glanced back at Angeal, who had made remarkable progress up the walkway. If he kept that rate up, he might make it out in half the time it took all of them to make it this far--provided he could remember the way out, of course.

 _".....Somehow I don't think he will."_ Cloud couldn't believe he was trying to offer comfort to the man who'd burned his hometown and tried to destroy the planet. _"He's taking them out, so he'll feel responsible for their safety. If he did anything to hurt himself while watching over them, it would go against his honor, right?"_

Sephiroth laughed softly, but it was a relieved sound and then abruptly he became silent again. Cloud shook his head slightly at the odd exchange and then focused entirely on the task ahead. He didn't know what he'd do once he found his friends and the occupants of the hospital and Khymera Enviro, but that was a problem he'd tackle once he knew they were safe.

\------------------------------------------------------------

"Viincent." A soft, teasing female voice was calling to him. "Viiiiincent. Wake up, sleepy head!"

Vincent opened his eyes and stared up at the pink blooms of a cherry blossom tree, he then turned his gaze to the left and blinked at the woman sitting there beside him.

"There you go." Lucrecia said with a cheerful smile. "I thought you were going to sleep the whole day away!"

Vincent moved to sit up and looked down at himself. While Lucretia was wearing a cheerful yellow and blue flowered _yukata_ , he found that he was wearing a plain brown _kimono_. He looked back to her again with a confused expression. "What's going on...?"

"Hm?" Lucrecia tilted her head slightly. "You decided to take a nap after our picnic, that's all. What's wrong?" She reached out for him, but he drew back.

"No. This isn't right." What was going on? The last thing he remembered, Nero....he'd been battling Nero. "Where are we?"

"Wutai, of course." Lucrecia looked perplexed. "We moved here after we got married. Don't you remember?"

Vincent shook his head. "No...no....I...." He paused when he heard a baby's cry come from the basket beside Lucrecia and watched as she turned her attention to it, reaching in and pulling out a brown haired, red eyed infant. "....What?"

"Vincent!" Lucrecia turned to him, upset. "Surely you remember our _son_ at least!" The baby started crying louder and Lucrecia rocked him in her arms.

"Our...son....?" No. This couldn't be right. This wasn't right! Yet, everything around him seemed so solid, so real. The smell of the blossoms, the feel of a slight, warm breeze on his face. He looked at the infant and frowned. No...this couldn't be real, but as the seconds passed, he was finding he very much wanted it to be.

"I'm sorry." He apologized. "My nap must have addled me."

"Yes, I know." She sighed. "It's not your fault. After you took that bullet....well, never mind all that." She held the now calm infant out to him. "Sephiroth, say 'ohaiyo' to your daddy."

And just like that, the illusion broke. Vincent all but leapt to his feet and backed away from Lucrecia and the baby as if they were venomous. "What is this?!" He demanded to know. "This isn't real! None of this is real! Who are you? What is this?!" Where was Cerberus? He looked around quickly for it.

"Vincent!" Lucrecia held the baby close to herself. "Calm down. You're going to upset him!"

"What is this?!" Vincent all but yelled. "You're dead, you died....this isn't real! You're not real! None of this is real!"

Lucrecia stared at him in pained dismay, but then his surroundings and her quickly began to fade away until there was only darkness. Now, instead of Lucrecia kneeling there on soft green grass, Vincent was faced with a demon glaring at him out of the black.

"Chaos." He acknowledged the protoweapon with a grim realization. He might have killed Nero, but Chaos could not die and now it had come for him.

Chaos hissed, the sound very much like a steaming kettle. "We give nice dreams, and you still will not die. You are stubborn."

Vincent blinked once. The protoweapon had never before shown any capacity for speech, opting instead to simply be the source of his worst nightmares. That it would give him pleasant dreams now however was almost more unnerving than its sudden capacity for speech. He stood there mutely, just staring at it.

Chaos hissed again. "You freed us from infection, we express grateful." It flexed its wings and tilted its head. "You decay."

"......It's called old age." This had to be another dream, Chaos simply did not talk. It was a being of destruction, pure and simple. "What do you want, Chaos?"

"We express curious." Chaos began to stalk around Vincent, forcing him to turn to keep Chaos in his view. "Infection left thoughts, left self. Infection present, but sleep now. We awake. Trapped in, but now free. You decay."

The more it talked, the less sense it seemed to make. ".....Lucrecia put you in me so I would stop dying." Vincent spoke softly after a few seconds to try and decode what the protoweapon was saying. "So....without you, I'll probably die." Acknowledging that, he could almost feel his organs beginning to rot and he put his arms around his midsection in a futile gesture.

"All die, join Stream of Life. You fear?" Chaos smiled ferally. "We smell fear."

"....It is man's nature to fear death." Vincent replied, continuing to turn as Chaos paced around him. "But.....listen to me." His hands spasmed on his arms and he winced, but then continued. "Weiss wants to awaken Omega again, right? It's too soon. The Planet isn't ready. We're not ready."

"All die." Chaos repeated, though it stopped its pacing and stared at Vincent. It remained staring at him in silence for several unnerving moments before it curled its lips back and snarled. "You chained us."

"Not by choice." Pain was building in his body, he had to try to reason with it quickly. "Help me. Help me stop Weiss, then I'll free you....somehow. I'll let you return to your sleep."

Chaos laughed coldly. "You bargain? You reason? We are weapon, we are tool."

"Help me!" Vincent forced all the authority he could into his voice, channeling his worry and fear into anger. "Damn you! It wasn't our choice to be thrown together, but I need your help. Omega can't rise. It isn't time!"

Chaos looked at him in silence, watching Vincent wincing in pain as his body betrayed him. Finally, the protoweapon gave a put-upon sigh.

"We agree. Too soon." Its form dissolved into the black surrounding them, but a few seconds later it swarmed in on Vincent, smothering him and driving him to his knees as a new level of pain ripped though him.

Vincent gave a strangled scream and collapsed onto his side, writhing helplessly as agony rolled up and down his body, overwhelming him and stealing breath and thought until all he knew was the pain. Finally, the pain faded away again and he lay there in a darkness that was no longer threatening. The pain was gone and in its place was a familiar strength. He slowly moved to stand up and looked at his once more steady hands. He touched his face with his right and while he couldn't be certain, it felt like the wrinkles that had been etching their way deeper into his skin had smoothed out. Had Chaos somehow reversed the aging, and if so, why? To make him a more useful host perhaps?

Well, he couldn't spend the time thinking about it. Without the protomateria, Chaos could conceivably take control of him at any time. He'd have to move quickly before that happened, there was something important he needed to do before confronting Weiss.

\------------------------------------------------------------

By the time Angeal had hauled Yuffie and Reeve along with his heavy sword out of Deepground, he was about ready to take a break. Exiting the Shinra building, he saw what appeared to be a crumpled mass of tattered black clothing and he set Yuffie and Reeve down on the steps so he could go investigate. As he got closer, the mass shifted and he saw that what had looked like bits of clothing were actually feathers. The figure raised their head then and all doubt was eliminated.

".....Genesis?"

Genesis offered a weak smile and pushed himself more upright. "My friend," He rasped. "the fates are cruel. There are no dreams, no honor remains. The arrow....has left the bow of the goddess...."

Angeal knelt by his side and put a hand on his shoulder, looking at his childhood friend in concern. He was obviously degrading, his hair turning white, his clothing becoming faded and both his clothes and skin gaining a marbled appearance. It was painful seeing this happen to him a second time, but Angeal knew there was probably nothing he could do for him.

"What are you doing here?" He asked instead.

Genesis gave another weak smile. "I came to find Weiss. He betrayed me...." He dropped his head, giving it a weary shake. "I should have listened. It was all a lie. He....his brother took my body for his own. This is a copy."

"A copy?" Angeal's eyes widened slightly. "You put yourself into one of your copies?"

"It was the only thing I could do. The darkness..." Genesis gave a shiver, but then he lifted his head again. "I felt fine until a few minutes ago, but now....I feel myself ebbing away....Dreams of the morrow hath the shattered soul. Pride is lost, wings stripped away. The end is nigh..."

"......Genesis......" Angeal's eyes flicked over him. There had to be _something_ he could do for him! "Don't you give up on me, Genesis! Don't you dare!"

Genesis gave a soft chuckle. "I'm sorry Angeal. About before, I mean....I just didn't want to be alone. I didn't know you would want to die because of it...."

".....It's forgiven." Angeal looked at his surroundings now, seeking inspiration, something to tell him how to help Genesis. "Save your strength."

"Tell Sephiroth I'm sorry too...would you?" Genesis shifted to lean his head against Angeal's shoulder and closed his eyes. "Infinite in mystery is the gift of the Goddess." His voice was fainter now. "We seek it thus, and take to the sky. Ripples form on the water's surface, the wandering soul....knows no rest....." He fell still.

"......Genesis?" Angeal looked down at him and gave him a slight shake. "Genesis?" He felt about to panic when Genesis made a sound and shifted to become more comfortable against the other man. He was simply asleep.

Angeal slowly shifted to sit on the ground, holding his longtime friend close to him and listening for every breath. If there was a way that he could save Genesis, he would find it. This was their second chance, their chance to do the right thing in spite of being monsters. This time Angeal had no intention of giving up so easily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cloud's [swords](http://i48.tinypic.com/dlkl51.jpg).
> 
> Crossposted to [DeviantArt](http://naosuloff.deviantart.com/gallery/34469925) and [FF.net](http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5454968/14/The_Planets_Enemy).


	15. Rebirth

It was quite the scene that Cloud and the others came across when they finally found the area where the people from Khymera Enviro and the hospital had ended up. People were assembling along the catwalk in an awkward gaggle of patients, hospital personnel and civilians. However, that wasn't even the strangest sight. Infantry uniforms were everywhere, black, green, red and blue. Cloud noted that the ones in green and blue uniforms were carrying guns, so he figured the other two colors had to be for former SOLDIER. They were organizing to evacuate, following the orders of an older man in a dark blue sweater and blue jeans. A troubling amount of people were lying very still in the cages, many with others near them in various states of distress. The mako fumes were more heavily condensed here and even with the filter mask on, Cloud was starting to feel a bit fuzzy. They would have to move quickly to get people out before even more succumbed.

They moved toward the others, Kunsel quickly heading over to explain to his fellows that they were there to help with the evacuation. While he was taking care of that, Cloud looked around to spot any familiar faces and finally located Tifa, who was edging her way around the former SOLDIER and Infantry to reach him.

"Cloud!" She reached out to hug him tightly. "Oh, thank the Summons you're alright!" She let go again and looked at him, then gave him a bit of a crooked smile. "Are you here to rescue us? ....And where did you get that mask?"

"Sorry I'm late." Cloud said, though without humor. He looked around at the people around him. "Shelke found us the masks. I don't think there were any more." He motioned at the older man. "Who's that giving the orders?"

"Mm." Tifa nodded slightly and glanced back at the older man. "His name is Veld, I think. Vincent left him in charge. He said he was the former Director of the Turks."

"He was." Reno spoke up. "We've been lookin' for him." He elbowed Rude. "Tseng's gonna be over the moon! We finally found the boss!"

"Good for you." Tifa planted her hands on her hips. "In the meantime, help out. Some people have _died_ already from the mako exposure. It's nothing short of a miracle that we've been able to keep things so calm."

The two Turks looked at each other, then moved around Tifa to help with the organization of the evacuation and she turned her attention back to Cloud.

"Did you come across Vincent?" She asked. "He was taking Reeve and Yuffie up to call the WRO for help."

"Yeah. We found Reeve and Yuffie. Angeal took them back up." Cloud sighed and swiped at his bangs. "Unfortunately, it seems that....that Vincent was taken by Nero. By that same stuff that took all of you."

Tifa paled slightly and brought a hand up to her mouth. ".......Oh no. Vincent....."

"I'm sure he'll be fine." Zack spoke up, doing his best to sound optimistic. "He's pretty tough, right?"

"If anyone would have a chance against Nero, it would be Vincent Valentine." Shelke agreed with a firm nod.

".....Of course. He'll be fine." Tifa gave a weak smile and turned away. "We should get back to helping...."

"Tifa...." Cloud reached out for her shoulder, but he and everyone froze when a piercing scream cut through the air. It took Cloud a second to realize that it was somehow an _angry_ scream, though also very pain-filled.

"Oh geez...." Tifa put a hand over her heart and others around went back to their business. "Sorry. There's a woman in labor here....and she's getting to do it without any painkillers."

"My mother could relate." Zack said with a sheepish smile.

"I'm sure mine could have too...." Cloud muttered. "There wasn't exactly a hospital in Nibelheim...."

"Isn't one in Gongaga either. Small town boys, huh?" Zack gave him a grin and Cloud gave a slight shrug back before giving another start when there was another scream. _This_ one however was definitely fearful and it became apparent within a few moments as to why when that ominous darkness that had brought them there in the first place reared up over the cages and began swarming over the area, rushing in their direction like a black tide. Unsurprisingly, those who could began climbing over those who couldn't to try and escape, but it moved too quickly and not even Cloud and the others had time to react before it overwhelmed them.

All around Cloud were panicked screams, but he couldn't see anything in the absolute black. "Tifa?! Zack?!" He looked around desperately for them and then started forward. He didn't make it very far however before the darkness surprisingly melted away again and he found himself face to chest with his best friend.

"Uh....oh. Hey there, Cloud. Careful, you wouldn't want people to get the wrong idea." Zack gave a bit of a cheeky grin and put a hand on Cloud's shoulder to edge him back, but it was fairly obvious that he was freaked out and frankly, Cloud couldn't say that he blamed him.

Cloud looked around, finding himself having to squint a bit even though it seemed to be early evening. The darkness was receding from the area and leaving people behind. They too were looking around in confusion and Cloud himself was left scratching his head. _Reno had said that the darkness belonged to Nero, so what's going on?_

Looking around again, his eyes adjusting to the change in light, Cloud's eyebrows abruptly shot up when he realized where they were and he looked back at Zack.

"We're in Junon!" He exclaimed in surprise, ripping the filter mask off. "That's the Khymera building! ....But how....?" His surprise faded and he frowned. This made no sense. They'd been right where Weiss no doubt wanted them, so why send them back?

Confusion and tentative elation was building throughout the throng, and voices were joining together as the people around them began to discuss what had just occurred. "You're right." Zack said after a few moments, looking around too now, and frowning as well. "I only hope that this doesn't end up causing a stampede, because that would be a _really_ embarrassing way to die."

".......I still don't know how you can be so casual about that." Cloud muttered before taking another look around. "Where's Tifa and the others?"

"I'm sure they're somewhere. We got all jumbled up in th--crap!" Zack grabbed Cloud and yanked him away from darkness that was forming directly behind him. Cloud turned around in time for the darkness to draw away again and reveal one last person.

"Vincent?!" He exclaimed incredulously before giving the other man a quick appraisal. Vincent looked tired, but all the signs of aging he had begun to exhibit had vanished. "......Are you alright?"

Vincent lifted his head. His bandana hung loose and obscured one eye, no longer serving the purpose of holding back his hair so he had to push both it and his hair back to look at Cloud. "....I am alive." He said softly, and then he removed his bandana completely to use it to tie his hair back into a loose ponytail instead to try and keep it out of his eyes. "Hopefully this will all be over soon."

".....What do you mean?" Cloud looked at him in puzzled concern. "What do you know?"

"I know where Weiss is." With his hair tied back, it almost gave the illusion that Vincent's eyes were slanted. "I am finally going to finish things."

Cloud couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Alone? .......Vincent....you're not in any condition to be doing this yourself. You've been through a lot of stresses these past few days. At least let me come help you."

"Chaos has returned to me.” Vincent replied, looking away from Cloud at the people around them. It seemed that Veld and another person had taken control of the situation and were having the personnel and patients being funneled into the hospital. “It will aid me in stopping Weiss from becoming one with Omega once more. It agreed that it is too soon for Gaia's end."

"......Vincent." Cloud reached out to firmly grasp the other man’s arm and jerked him around to make him look at him again. "I am giving you an order. Do _not_ engage Weiss on your own!"

Vincent looked down at his shorter friend in silence for several moments, and then he smiled. Cloud blinked in confusion before his eyes narrowed. It was a sad smile.

"I am sorry Cloud." Vincent jerked his arm free and gave the blond a hard shove, sending him back into Zack. “He is my enemy, as Sephiroth has been yours. This is my fight.” And before Cloud had a chance to respond, the darkness surrounded him and he was gone again.

"....And what about Genesis?!" Cloud snapped at the now empty space, recovering his balance with Zack’s help. "If you get ambushed again--!" He clenched his fists tightly at his sides, teeth gritted.

Zack put a hand on his shoulder. "........You have to believe he’ll be alright." Zack said softly. "Come on. Let’s help get these things sorted out."

"......Yeah." Slowly Cloud’s posture relaxed again. Vincent would _have_ to survive this, so Cloud could ask how the hell Vincent--because it had to be Vincent--had gotten everyone back to the surface using an ability that was supposedly Nero’s....and also, how he’d gotten Chaos back. When his phone rang, he nearly jumped out of his skin and fumbled to answer it.

"Cloud!" It was Cid. "Hey kid, sorry I haven’t been in touch. Things have been so hectic, I hadn’t noticed my phone had lost its goddamn charge! So, did I miss anything?"

"Cid...." Cloud smiled bitterly. "You have no idea....."

\------------------------------------------------------------

"Boss! Hey boss!"

Veld sighed and turned his head to look at Reno, who was making his way over to him and waving frantically as he approached. "Yes, Reno?"

Reno attempted to contain his elation. "Boss! We've been looking for you for weeks, yo!"

"Mm." Veld glanced away and then moved aside for a wheelchair. "For what reason?"

"Didn't you hear? Rufus sent out a pardon. The Direc--I mean Tseng, wanted to make sure you knew."

"I heard." Veld looked back at Reno, then glanced behind at Rude, who was helping an old lady on an oxygen tank. "I'm also however, somewhat retired. I have no interest in rejoining Shinra."

"Well, all the same." Reno continued. "Tseng would like to see you in person."

Veld turned away. "And if I refuse?"

Reno shifted uncomfortably. "........We didn't think you would." He admitted after a few moments, deeply embarassed. Turks _always_ had a backup plan, but Tseng hadn't given them one for this.

The searing look of disapproval Veld gave Reno made him want to shrivel up and hide. Though Veld hadn't been around for years, his opinion was still important. At least, it was to Reno. "I see Tseng has let things slip, then." He said lowly.

"Yeah, well....nothing was the same after you 'died'." Reno told him, putting his hands in his pockets. "Maybe you should come back and have a talk with Tseng."

Veld gave a soft snort. ".....Alright, Sinclair. I'll consider it." He ignored how Reno bristled at the usage of his last name and focused on keeping the path clear so patients and hospital staff could re-enter the hospital.

Reno turned away in frustration, hoping for some backup from Rude only to notice him helping that woman with the oxygen tank. Reno sighed softly, then smiled reluctantly. Maybe now wasn't the time for this. _Let it never be said that Turks can't be gentlemen._ He stepped forward to help someone else who was floundering in the--thankfully orderly--press of bodies. Provided that Veld didn't take the chance to vanish, he could talk to him again later.

\------------------------------------------------------------

The darkness parted from around Vincent and he looked around warily before marginally relaxing. He was in Reactor 0, or more specifically, the hallway leading to it. He was surrounded by Genesis copies floating in mako, just as brain dead as they were the last time.

 _So, this must be where he is, then._ He'd asked Chaos to help him get everyone taken to Deepground to safety, and surprisingly, the protoweapon had done so. Now it had brought him to where Vincent supposed it sensed Weiss.

He took a few moments to ground himself and push his anxieties away. He had no room for doubt now, no room for fear. He had been a Turk once, and the mentality would stay until his last breath. Turks did their job, they did not feel and they did not fear. When he finally felt ready, he drew Cerberus and stepped forward to the doors that separated where he was from the reactor proper.

The tanks were still there of course, though the mako that had poured out of them seemed to have evaporated. Vincent took all this in at a glance, then focused on the throne at the far end.

Weiss was there, legs crossed casually and head slightly tilted as he stared at Vincent from across the distance. He didn't seem surprised to see the intruder, and only appeared amused.

"Vincent Valentine." Weiss straightened up and smoothly moved to his feet. "You're quite tenacious, aren't you? The woman's writing indicated you would degrade very quickly if Chaos was ever removed from your body, but it seems she was wrong."

Vincent leveled his gun at the once leader of Deepground. "Her name was Lucrecia." He fired three times in quick succession, but he wasn't very surprised when Weiss was able to draw his gunswords and deflect the bullets. Being a severely enhanced soldier, not all of his speed had come from Omega, after all.

"Oh, now this isn't very fair, is it?" Weiss still looked amused. "You have a gun, and I have gunswords." He spun the weapons in his hands. "Heaven and Earth will be your demise, Valentine."

Vincent stepped into the reactor. "If you know the enemy and know yourself, your victory will not stand in doubt; if you know Heaven and know Earth, you may make your victory complete."

"Hm?" Weiss tilted his head. "Is that a quote? How amusing. So you acknowledge my superority? Kneel at my feet then, and maybe I'll let you live long enough to see this world burn."

"It is a quote." Vincent agreed. "Anata ga teki o shiri, jibun jishin o shitte ireba, no shōri wa utagai de gaman dekinaideshou." He fired several more times on Weiss, beginning to walk down the corridor toward him. "Anata ga tengoku o shitte irushi, chikyū o shitte ireba, no shōri wa kanzen'na koto ga arimasu. The words as spoken by a wise Wutai sage."

Weiss had no problem deflecting these bullets either. "You speak Wutaiese? How amusing! Well. This has all been quite entertaining, but now it's time for you to die." He rushed forward, pumping the handles of his gunswords to fire off bullets of his own, though he looked mildly surprised when Vincent didn't even try to dodge and became even more so when rather than trying to avoid the slashes of his swords when he got in range, Vincent intentionally allowed himself to be run through so he could grab Weiss by the neck with his gauntlet hand.

".....Well." Weiss rasped around the chokehold. "This is a surprise...."

Vincent curled his lips back into a snarl and his eyes turned yellow. "You have threatened this world for the last time." He growled. "Now it ends."

Finally, the amusement was wiped off Weiss' face. ".......You have Chaos back.....but then that means....." Surprise turned to rage and he shoved his swords up to the hilt into Vincent's body, twisting savagely and yanking back violently enough to break the hold on him. Retreating backward, blood pouring from the wounds now etched into his neck from the gauntlet, Weiss' expression filled with near mindless fury. "You've killed him....." He hissed. "You've taken my brother from me....." In spite of the fury however, he just continued to retreat until he reached the throne.

"No." Weiss growled. "This isn't over. The protomateria is mine, Omega will be mine. You will lose control. Be destroyed by the weapon, Valentine! Feel the agony as it rips you apart!" He sheathed his swords and pulled something out of a pouch at his side, holding it up so Vincent could see it was the protomateria. He then stepped sideways and dropped into the mako.

Vincent stepped forward slowly and looked at the place Weiss had vanished. His eyes returned to normal and he dropped to his knees as he allowed himself to feel the pain of his slowly healing injuries. He stared for several moments longer at the bubbling mako, and then let out a rage-filled scream.

He'd failed again. Perhaps the mako would burn Weiss apart, if the reactor itself didn't chew him to bits, but maybe it wouldn't. Sephiroth had survived one such trip through a reactor, and Weiss was at least as enhanced.

 _But my story is over._ He'd made a promise to Chaos, and he certainly couldn't consider breaking it when Weiss had taken the protomateria with him. Shakily he stood again, holstering his gun and taking out his cellphone. He didn't often use the extra functions on it, normally not seeing a point--though Marlene had made certain that he knew how to use said functions all the same. Calling up the text function, he sent a simple message; 'Weiss may still be alive. Went into mako'. He made sure to send the message to Cloud and then closed the phone again. Glancing at the mako briefly, he then turned away to leave. One final destination, and then he could perhaps have peace.

\------------------------------------------------------------

It had been two weeks. Two weeks since Vincent's text message and nothing heard from him since. Attempts to call his cell went straight to his apathetic-sounding voicemail. It wasn't the first time that the wandering man had gone out of range of cellphone towers, but everyone was getting worried all the same.

 _Though not as worried as they'd apparently been about me._ Cloud thought with dry irony as he stopped his bike outside his destination. He dropped his goggles around his neck and looked over at Nibelheim, then sighed.

He'd spent the past two weeks catching up on the deliveries he owed from his disappearance nearly two months ago. Now he was on the last package, the one he'd left for last for reasons that were obvious to everyone who knew him.

Tifa had explained her attempts to dissuade the client, but how he had refused to be shaken off, insisting that Strife Delivery Service was the only one he knew would get the needed package to its destination.

But why? No one had called on his services from here before. Was Shinra no longer supporting its farce, and the people put in place were having trouble sustaining themselves?

He got off Fenrir and picked up the box he'd been hired to deliver. It was meant for the general store, and he had no idea what was in it. That wasn't too unusual for his deliveries, but this time he felt somewhat more nervous as he headed into town.

He knew there was no rational reason for his trepidation. The man who'd handed him the package in Junon hadn't seemed in any way shifty or evasive, and no one in town was paying him too much attention when he walked into it. When he entered the general store, the man behind the counter blinked at him a couple of times, but then looked at the package in Cloud's hands and brightened.

"You're from Strife Delivery?" He asked hopefully.

"That's right." Cloud replied tersely, stepping over to set the package down on the counter. "Twenty gil for delivery. Sorry it took so long."

"Twenty gil? That's it?" The owner of the store opened the register and took out fifty, putting it down on the counter before taking the package. "There. Gas isn't cheap and I know we're out of the way here. Take the extra."

"Hm.....thanks." Cloud took the money to tuck away in his wallet, then watched as the man opened the package to reveal what appeared to be pharmaceuticals. "Medication?"

"We're opening a clinic. With the monsters in the area, people get hurt....not to mention just plain getting sick." The shop owner gave a short laugh. "It certainly took long enough, in any event."

"I'm sure it did." Cloud sighed and turned to go. However these people had come to Nibelheim, he supposed they'd made a home for themselves now. Still, when he opened the door to leave and caught sight of the house that had once been his, he decided to try again to get someone to admit the truth.

He turned his head to look back at the shop owner. "Where were you from?"

"Hm? What do you mean?"

Cloud felt a flash of annoyance. "Before Shinra moved you here. Where were you from?"

".......Look, son." The man planted his hands on the counter. "I'm fairly sure I told you the first time you came here. I've been in this town all my life. There is no 'before'."

Cloud turned more fully to look at the older man, and for the first time he wondered if it was more than fear of Shinra that kept the lie alive. _Maybe their memories were tampered with...._ ".....Y'got a midwife in town?"

The shop owner blinked and straightened up, surprised at the change of subject. "No. Why? Someone gonna be having a baby?"

"There used to be one." Cloud pointed at his old home. "She lived in that house." And before the man could say anything else, he stepped out and let the door close behind him.

 _Well, that's that. Now I can head home._ Instead of doing so however, he headed for Shinra manor.

 _"Drawn back again and again."_ Sephiroth sneered. _"Lost little puppet, following his strings."_

Cloud sighed softly. "I haven't heard from you in a while." He commented softly as he slipped through the manor's rusted gate. "I had almost forgotten you were there." Strangely, Sephiroth's commentary didn't bother him. It seemed to Cloud more like a lonely bully poking at scars that used to hurt. What else did Sephiroth have to do in his mind besides be a grumpy annoyance? He'd gotten strong enough to manifest when he felt like it, but it seemed that Cloud had adapted too, for why else would Sephiroth not have tried to take him over by now otherwise?

 _"I thought you wanted to return to the place you call home, Cloud?"_ Sephiroth seemed merely curious now. _"What are you doing?"_

"Not sure." Cloud admitted, stepping into the front hall and beginning to carefully make his way up the creaky stairs. "But I don't plan to come back here again, so maybe I'll just say goodbye."

_".....You're hoping your missing friend is here, aren't you?"_

"Maybe." Cloud replied. "But you can see my thoughts just as easily as I can, so why bother asking?"

Sephiroth gave him no reply and Cloud shrugged it off, heading down the planks to get to the basement. He hadn't acknowledged the thought before, but Sephiroth was probably right about his motives. Vincent hadn't been found when they'd looked for him at the crystal cave, and this was the only other place Cloud could think that the other man would have gone.

Still, when he looked into the room Vincent had once spent thirty some odd years sleeping away his sins in, Cloud hadn't honestly expected to find him sitting there in the coffin that had once housed him, looking in Cloud's direction like he'd been waiting for him.

"Everything makes so much noise in this place." Vincent commented softly. "I could hear the echoes so very easily." He sighed and tilted his head, drawing a leg up to rest his arm on it. "So, you have found me. I suppose I should have expected that you would all keep looking until proof one way or the other revealed itself."

"Vincent." Cloud leaned on the doorframe and crossed his arms. "I'm glad to see you're looking well. What's with you and running off, anyway?" He quirked a small smile. "It seems a bit hypocritical to get annoyed with me for doing it when you do the same thing."

"As I recall, it was not _you_ whom I was irritated with at the time." Vincent gave a heavy sigh and closed his eyes, lowering his head and letting the ponytail he had his hair tied in slip over his shoulder. "......I made a promise to Chaos. I told it that I would allow it to return to the Planet once it had helped me with Weiss. I had tried to release it back to the world once before, but it had returned to me then. Now it has decided that it likes it in my body." He laughed hollowly and Cloud couldn't help but shudder.

"Well....isn't that a good thing?" The blond asked after a few moments. "That it's going to stay, that is. You'll die without it, won't you?"

"I will." Vincent admitted, head still lowered. "However, I was ready to. I have.....so many sins. Now however, there is a different problem." He opened his eyes and lifted his head to look at Cloud. "Weiss took the protomateria with him. I have no way to control Chaos. It will eventually overwhelm me....and then, I do not know what will happen."

"You got control of your other monsters." Cloud reminded him. "You even 'domesticated' Galian Beast. I'm sure you'll find a way to handle this too."

Vincent looked off to the side. ".....Perhaps you are right. I do not want to think about if you are wrong."

"Then don't." Cloud spoke firmly. He was a bit annoyed with Vincent for when he'd refused to listen to him, but the blond had a feeling that Vincent felt more than bad enough as it was without having his failures hammered further into his head.

He pushed away from the doorframe and straightened up. "Have you explored down here at all, or did you just hole yourself straight up in your coffin?"

Vincent looked back at him from the corner of his eye. "I wished to contemplate my sins, and I know this basement quite well, thank you."

"Hm. I think you forgot....this is where I found Zack." Cloud turned away. "Come on. I never looked at it properly last time....and there's something I want to show you." He waited for the sounds of Vincent getting out of the coffin and then he led the way to Hojo's lab and the entrance to the secret passageway. A few tries on the keypad later, and they were stepping into the room of tubes.

Cloud couldn't help the shudder and sick churning of his stomach when he saw his own clone again, but he pointed it out mutely anyway.

"A clone Cloud." Vincent commented, stepping closer to take a better look.

"Yeah." Cloud tried not to sound ill. "Zack said you can't clone a soul, but that still leaves me wondering....you know....which one is me."

"You are you." Vincent responded immediately, glancing at him with an arched brow. "What does the body matter? If you cannot clone a soul, then whichever body houses it, is you. What is there to wonder about?"

Cloud blinked a couple of times, and then he gave a relieved chuckle. "You're right, Vincent. I've been worrying over nothing."

"Such is human nature." Vincent commented mildly, moving off deeper into the room and looking into other mako-filled tubes, even if he couldn't see anyone inside.

".....Are you looking for something, Vincent?" Cloud asked after a few moments of watching his examining.

"Not as such." Vincent responded. "But do you hear that humming sound? It seems as if it coming from back here."

Cloud blinked, but then moved to follow and when he got closer to the back of the room, he had to agree that there was indeed a humming noise. It was familiar in a way, though the pitch wasn't quite right. It wasn't until he followed Vincent through another door that he realized what it was.

".......A mini-reactor." He intoned in surprise. Unlike full-sized reactors, there was only one mako refinement canister, but it was larger than normal, reaching up through the ceiling and going who knew how far up. There was only a tiny window to look inside, but from the shadow being cast from inside, Cloud was almost certain that there was something within. "......Bad deja vu....." He muttered, taking a step back.

Vincent glanced at him, then looked at the reactor. "First things first; find the off switch." He looked around and noticed a switchplate. Heading over to it he opened it and began flipping switches one by one until the reactor stopped humming. The lights outside the room flickered and then went out, though they came back on a few moments later when an emergency supply no doubt kicked in. Cloud knew that power likely wouldn't last very long though, and he took another step back out of the room.

"We should go." He said softly. "The reactor's off. There's nothing more to do."

"There is one more thing." Vincent responded. He went over to the refinement canister and examined it briefly, then pulled a switch at the side. Both men could hear as the large canister began to drain of mako and then a thump as whatever was held inside impacted into the side of it. Cloud tensed, but Vincent gave no reaction and only continued to wait until the mako had drained completely, then he drew Cerberus and they watched as a previously unseen seam in the canister parted and opened, spilling out its contents.

Vincent and Cloud stared blankly at what--or rather who--lay sprawled facedown on the floor. Clamps had been attached to the ankles, though they had apparently released when the mako had drained and the mouth and nose of the individual was covered by what looked like some kind of breathing apparatus. They could clearly see the rise and fall of the chest--this person was obviously alive.

"You have _got_ to be kidding me." Cloud finally intoned, deadpan and incredulous.

"Is this really such a surprise?" Vincent responded quietly, crouching down and reaching out to unhook the breathing mask as if he came across this sort of thing all the time. "Angeal was cloned and Genesis was cloned, so why not a Sephiroth clone as well?"

Why not indeed? Cloud clenched his fists. The remnants had been something like that, only one needing Jenova's head to become complete. But this was different. This was--or at least appeared to be--a complete clone of Sephiroth. But did it have a soul already, or was it an empty vessel waiting to be possessed? What did this mean? What would it mean? What was going to happen? His head felt filled with cotton, he couldn't think.

 _"Well...this is turning into a good day."_ Sephiroth commented with a casual tone, as if talking about the weather. _"You found your friend, and a body for me on top of it."_

The pressure in Cloud's head increased and he brought a hand up to press to his temple, shutting his eyes. "......Vincent.....he.....I think he's....."

"Let him."

Cloud squinted his eyes back open. "......What....?"

"Let him." Vincent repeated. He looked completely calm and at ease. Cloud knew that as a former Turk, this could be deceptive, but Sephiroth was going to get his way regardless.

There was a flash of light behind Cloud's eyes and he collapsed to his knees as the pressure was suddenly released. For several seconds he stayed there, kneeling on the floor and staring blankly downward. However, when he heard the cock of a gun, he lifted his head.

Vincent was aiming Cerberus at the Sephiroth clone while it twitched as the soul now within it got adjusted to its new home. Cloud drew his feet under him and shakily stood up, also fixated on the clone. He'd left Merciless with Fenrir, but even though he knew it would be useless in the enclosed space, he still felt somewhat naked without it now and it was a small relief to know that Vincent still had his weapon on him.

They stood in silence for nearly two minutes, and during that time Cloud mulled over why Sephiroth was having so much trouble. When Zack had come back to life, his only struggles had had to do with the fact that he was drowning in the stagnant mako. This body, unlike Zack's, had apparently been kept alive the whole time. Was it too old? Was that the problem? Or _was_ there already a soul in there and Sephiroth was having to push it out?

Finally Sephiroth gathered his arms under himself and pushed himself shakingly into a kneel, his mako-soaked hair cascading over his shoulders and managing to afford him some dignity. He pushed it out of his face and tilted his head to the side, cat-pupiled eyes focusing on the gun being aimed at him. "You really think that's any use against me?"

Vincent cocked a brow, gun arm steady. "At this angle and distance, even a mako enhanced individual would have trouble."

"You would shoot me, the son of your beloved Lucrecia?"

Vincent twitched, but then his eyes only hardened further. "Words to manipulate and harm. Words you likely do not even believe. Do you truly deserve the second chance Aerith told us to give you, Sephiroth?"

"Well." Sephiroth replied calmly. "That's up to you, now isn't it?"

Cloud crossed his arms and considered the two men while they remained in their stand off. His head still felt a little fuzzy, but enough was clear to allow him to think.

"Sephiroth." He said finally. "Angeal is your friend, isn't he?"

Sephiroth turned his head to look at Cloud and his eyes narrowed slightly. "What of it?"

"Then swear by your friend that you won't try to harm the Planet again." Even though it chilled him, Cloud forced himself to make eye contact.

"And why should I?" Sephiroth moved to stand, ignoring how Vincent was tracking him with Cerberus and laborously began pulling his long hair back over his shoulders while trying to slough the mako out of it. "Angeal vanished two weeks ago. No one knows where he is, or if he still lives."

"Because unless his clone body gave out on him, he probably is." Cloud responded. "I was there at Modeoheim on that day--but you've seen my memories, you know what I know." Cloud shook his head slightly. "Angeal won't kill himself. He has that honor of his still. He carries a sword that Zack won for him at the Saucer. He'll show up again when he's ready. And if you're his friend" He made eye contact again. "you'll be betraying him if you go against the Planet."

"You don't understand a thing of what you're talking about." Sephiroth responded, now ignoring Vincent completely. "I owe this world nothing, and I owe Mother--"

" _Nothing_." Cloud interrupted him. "Jenova was a parasite that came to this world to destroy it. You said yourself that you'd seen it all while you were in the Lifestream. You _know_ what she is. You _know_ she's not an Ancient. So instead of being a world destroyer, side with humanity and maybe become the hero you used to be."

"Side with humanity?" Sephiroth said musingly. Thick black smoke seemed to crawl up over his skin, making both Cloud and Vincent stiffen. They watched mutely as Sephiroth formed his old clothing for himself, right down to his pauldrons. Sephiroth glanced down at himself briefly, then looked back at Cloud and curled his lip back in a snarl.

"Side with humanity?" He repeated, tone now decidedly hostile. "The same humanity that destroys the Planet that sustains them? Sucking out its lifeblood to fuel their own? The same humanity that makes war on itself to gain resources? That replaced the Ancients with their greed?"

"If you think you know better than we do, then why not try to show us?" Vincent spoke up, finally lowering Cerberus and holstering the weapon. "Mako reactors all over this world are being shut down. We're returning to using oil, and we're working on harnessing water and wind as well. That aside, nothing is ever destroyed, it only becomes something else. Atoms become different atoms and what we took from the Lifestream will eventually return to the Lifestream. We have wounded the world, but the Northern Crater is what hurts Her the most. She forgives us, for humanity is young compared to the Cetra. She knows we will learn."

Sephiroth regarded Vincent from the corner of his eye, looking mildly intrigued by what the other man was saying. Cloud himself was trying not to look too surprised, not only at this startling level of knowledge but also at the verbosity. He wasn't used to Vincent talking so much. After a few moments, Sephiroth nodded and turned away.

"Alright." He said mildly. "I'll think about it." He looked at Cloud. "I'm not swearing by Angeal, but I'll promise this much; I'll observe. I'll give humanity a chance to prove it deserves to live." He smiled coldly. "Humanity has a year. After that, we'll see."

Cloud sighed gustily. "Fine." He said. "A year from this date." A year of peace, but also a year to train in case Sephiroth decided to go back to his old ways.

"Can we trust that?" Vincent asked.

"When I give my word, I do my best to keep it." Sephiroth replied. "Now. I am going to find a place to bathe." He gave Cloud another cold smile. "I'll see you in a year, Cloud."

"Joy." Cloud stepped back from the doorway to let Sephiroth pass and then he and Vincent watched him leave. The lights flickered and the two men glanced up at them, then Cloud looked over at his friend.

"I'm heading back to Edge. Where will you go?"

Vincent considered the question. "I will head to Rocket Town." He decided at last. "I have a new godchild, and if she is even half as bad as Kyle, Cid and Shera _do_ have to deal with her as well as their older son's potential jealousy. They would likely appreciate the assistance."

Cloud gave Vincent a strange look, then turned to go. "You're willingly going to put yourself in that position?"

".......Yes, I realize how strange that seems. However, I find myself remarkably good with children....and they seem to like me as well."

"If Marlene's any indication." Cloud nodded. ".......You would have been a good father." He added quietly.

"Perhaps." Vincent replied. "Perhaps not. I will never know. She chose him, not me....the men of my generation were not normally very....parental anyway. Perhaps my upbringing made me lucky. In any event, I can do my best to be a good godparent. Kyle is a good boy for the most part, even if he is learning to curse as creatively as his father at an earlier age than I personally would like." He shrugged. "Ah, Cloud. Do you think you can go to Khymera Enviro hospital and retrieve my cloak? It feels strange to be without it."

"I'll see what I can do." Cloud responded.

"Thank you....and if Genesis still lives and you find him.....let me know, please. I still have something to settle with him."

"......I'll see what I can do." Cloud said again. "I think you'll have to fight Sephiroth for the privilege of taking him out, though. He doesn't like Genesis much either."

"Not at all." Vincent replied. "I wouldn't dream of denying him the chance to settle his own grudge. He can come along. Perhaps it would calm him somewhat." They reached the ramp leading up and both looked up at the distance they would have to climb. A few black feathers floating down told them clearly how Sephiroth had done it.

"Can't deny I'm a little jealous of that." Cloud muttered and set forth to begin climbing back up, wary of every creak and small give of the wood under his feet. One day the boards were going to give out, and Cloud could only hope that it did so under a monster and not a person.

They headed outside together in companionable silence and Cloud returned to his motorcycle with Vincent still following. He turned back to his friend before climbing on. "Want a ride to Rocket Town?"

"No thank you." Vincent replied. "I'll walk. It may take me a little longer, but I don't mind the time."

"You've been missing for two weeks." Cloud reminded him. "Cid's going to be mad enough as it is."

"Let him be." Vincent said before smiling slightly. "Besides, I think he'll forgive me when I tell him Sephiroth has his own body. You have a headstart this way."

Cloud narrowed his eyes at the other man. ".......You're right." He conceded after a moment. "I'm going to get a lot more hell than you are." He sighed heavily and put his driving goggles on. "......You went against my orders several times this past little while, Vincent. When I'm your friend I'm your friend, but when I'm your leader, I expect to be obeyed. If you don't like what I'm telling you, you bring it up to me, not go behind my back."

Vincent looked at him silently for several moments, and then he gave a sad ghost of a smile. "Yes." He whispered. "I learned that lesson quite harshly. It seems I have never been very good at doing what I'm told, and it always gets me in trouble. I think I get that from my mother." He looked off at the distance. "I'll see you again, Cloud. If not when you get my cloak back for me, then when Halloween comes around."

Cloud sighed. "Yeah." He leaned down over Fenrir and turned the engine on, then guided the bike a bit away from Vincent before gunning the throttle and tearing off down the road. He wasn't anxious to tell his friends that Sephiroth was winging around free somewhere out there, but he knew he had to tell them all the same. They had a year, a year and then Sephiroth would decide whether to make war on Gaia once more or choose a more peaceful path. They would need to prepare for the worst.

Though Cloud expected the worst however, a part of him hoped for the best. Genesis might still be out there, but he at least didn't seem to want to destroy the world and Cloud just wanted to retire and be a delivery man already. Maybe if he could have enough peace, he could finally start thinking about things men his age were supposed to worry about--like relationships.

Time would tell either way. They had a year, and then it would hopefully be known once and for all if Sephiroth would be the Planet's enemy once more or become a protector of it. He would train and they would all prepare, but he would do his best to finally enjoy life a little in the meantime.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cloud's [swords](http://i48.tinypic.com/dlkl51.jpg).
> 
> Crossposted to [DeviantArt](http://naosuloff.deviantart.com/gallery/34469925) and [FF.net](http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5454968/15/The_Planets_Enemy).


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